Ah, the Lilac Kiwi. What beautiful scenery. Certainly this troubadour's favorite node.

But anyway, one of our characters, Scylla, was sitting by a plaza near the center of the node, patiently waiting for her friends to arrive. They had an appointment there today, and she was certain no one would miss it. It was a little early in the morning, though.

The first two eeveelutions that came into view were also the two eeveelutions she was less familiarized with, the Espeon and the Umbreon from the Azure Nightingale. This only meant she'd have more time to get acquainted with them.

"Hey, boys!" Scylla waved at them to make sure she caught their attention, making sure to show her warmest smile. "How are you?"

"Sleepy," replied the Umbreon. His tired eyes seemed to concur. "Seriously, next time we meet let's please all agree on a time, because otherwise Lumis wakes me up as soon as he wakes up, and they don't call Espeon the 'sun pokémon' for naught."

"It's not that early," Lumis complained.

"Can't see the moon. That means early."

"You can't ever see the moon, we're in a desert."

Scylla couldn't help but laugh at their antics. She wasn't going to get bored, was she? "Well, you're the first two to come. I'm still waiting for the others."

"I hope they come," Skoll said. "We were supposed to meet up with Ivy and Safira today, but since everyone's coming here… Let's just hope they assume we've come here instead of staying at the Nightingale."

"I told Kizzie to tell them yesterday, that everyone else would come here, you two included. They should come," Scylla informed them, although she had no way to be sure. Everyone got the message that they were going to meet up at the Kiwi today, but if the Calandra sisters and these two had previously agreed to meet on their own at the Nightingale… But with a bit of luck, they would conclude that the boys would also go to the Kiwi. Maybe.

Ugh, unsynchronized communication was a headache.

Well, Kizzie was with the sisters at the Calandra. She wouldn't let them go anywhere but to the Kiwi.

The next group to arrive, just a handful of minutes after the first, consisted of Agni and Zephyr. They were conversing between themselves on their way to the plaza, a short distance away from the sight of the other eeveelutions.

"I still don't know why we have to come," Agni complained. While he was slightly annoyed, he was severely exaggerating the annoyance he felt.

"Scylla invited us, Agni. It's only polite," Zephyr said. "C'mon, everybody will be there. Don't you want to see them again?"

"Why should I? We've known them for just a week, I'm not gonna pretend we're all buddy-buddy with them. I'm only here because Opal pestered me to come."

Zephyr looked at his cousin and heaved a sigh. How could he be so negative about everything? "Would you have preferred to stay home? Opal is busy with the whole Zvonimir ordeal, you'd be all alone."

"Good for me," was his quick answer. "Better than spending my time with people that pretend to be my friends."

Seriously, now? It's not like Agni had any other friends. Not that Zephyr would say that out loud. "They cannot possibly become your friends if you don't give them a chance. And they aren't so bad, are they?"

Agni huffed. "Are you kidding me? The Sylveon is immature, the Umbreon tries too hard to sound cool, the Espeon is a pretentious know-it-all, the Leafeon is a snob and I don't even remember hearing the Glaceon utter a single word."

"You aren't making any friends with that attitude, Agni." Zephyr didn't quite remember his cousin being so harsh and judgmental. Was he angry about something? "And you didn't even mention Scylla."

"Don't even get me started on her." The Flareon was practically fuming. "She thinks she's important just because she's a popular performer. So conceited."

"Seriously, Agni? She didn't seem haughty at all. She seemed pretty down-to-earth." What was his beef with the Vaporeon, anyway? It couldn't just be because she was from the Lilac Kiwi, right? "It's because she teases you a bit? You're just not very used to dealing with girls. You get used to it, trust me."

The last thing Agni needed right now was to be reminded of his cousin's apparent popularity. It was always defenders that stirred up passions, never metallurgists. "Whatever. I just don't feel comfortable near someone from the Kiwi."

It was pointless trying to reason with him, wasn't it? Oh well. Finally, the plaza where the other eeveelutions rested came into sight. Zephyr only hoped his cousin would behave himself.

Scylla was the first to notice their presence and greet them. "Agni! Zephyr! We're here!"

Agni couldn't help but notice that Scylla had called his name first. It felt… good. Or at least not bad. And ironically, he wasn't happy that this made him happy. This wasn't something to be happy about, he thought.

Predictably, Zephyr was the first one of the two to salute back. "Hey, Scylla! Oh, and I see Skoll and Lumis are here already too."

"Benefits of your best friend being a living alarm clock that meows," Skoll said while gazing at Lumis with mischievous eyes. His tone of voice made it obvious he talked in jest.

Lumis didn't bother addressing his friend's comment, instead opting to welcome the newcomers. "It's our pleasure seeing you again."

And with that, everyone had said their hellos… except for the Flareon. Zephyr subtly nudged him so that he would greet them too. Since the Espeon and the Umbreon were clients that had bought things from the Amber Crane before, and could potentially buy more in the future, Agni decided that greeting them and showing good manners would be good for business. And, truth be told, the Espeon at least appeared somewhat reasonable. Maybe he was the most tolerable one of the bunch, he thought.

"Hello. Good morning." He preferred a short and concise greeting. Although he mentioned no names, his salute was mainly directed at the Espeon, and maybe the Umbreon. Definitely not the Vaporeon.

And yet, it was the Vaporeon that came running to his side. "Hi, Agni! How've ya been? Working hard? Flexing those muscles?"

Did she sound slightly flirtatious just now? Or was Agni imagining things? Yes, that was it, definitely, he was sure. "I burn stuff, Scylla. My job basically consists on using Flamethrower over and over again." Kinda boring, but he liked it nonetheless.

"Oh… so you've been practicing with your mouth, is what you're telling me." In spite of the cutesy and innocent-looking smirk on her face, Agni gulped, fearing what she was up to. "My, now I'm curious. I might have to ask you to show me that dexterity you have with your mouth."

Oh no, he wasn't in the mood for that kind of attitude. He was never in the mood for that kind of attitude. While most other pokémon would have answered with embarrassment, Agni answered with seething rage. And a bit of embarrassment. But mainly seething rage.

"That's not funny, Scylla," he complained. "Don't you think you're going too far? Stop the flirting."

Scylla took a step back away from him, her pupils dilating. "Wha – Flirting? Who's flirting? I don't…"

"Of course you're flirting!" he shouted. His gaze met the ground, since this was a topic of conversation he didn't enjoy. "You just pretty much asked me for a … for a… M-My mouth isn't going anywhere near yours!"

Scylla smirked, finding it cute that he was apparently embarrassed of saying the word 'kiss' out loud. "C'mon, that's just innocent teasing. You're blowing this way out of proportion."

While their little chat was making both Agni and Scylla feel a bit awkward, the rest of present eeveelutions were having a much better time. While Lumis was mostly indifferent and Zephyr only moderately amused, Skoll was feeling quite entertained. So much drama. So much delicious drama. "So are you two mates after all or what? I'm getting confused."

"Yes," the Espeon answered, almost without thinking. What he would have never expected was that such a simple answer would lead to such a commotion.

Both Agni and Scylla turned their heads to the Espeon with a shocked expression adorning their faces, and the Flareon was the first to speak out. "The hell you mean yes?"

Scylla dropped her playful facial expression, appearing more serious than before. "Yeah, we're not… I mean, what gave you that idea?"

Lumis looked a bit perplexed by their reaction. "During the festival, I thought I heard that Ludicolo say… Well, no, never mind. If you say you're not together, I'll believe you." He didn't feel like arguing.

"A Ludicolo?" Agni turned to Scylla with a quizzical glare. "What is he talking about? That Ludicolo from your troupe?"

Oops, she had completely forgotten about it. Again. "Oh, that… Heh, you're gonna laugh when I tell you, Agni."

But given the apologetic look she was giving him, Agni felt like he wouldn't find it funny. "What now…?"

"Remember Mr. Ludicolo from my troupe? And remember how we told him we were going out as an excuse so that he would leave us alone?"

Agni didn't like the tone of her voice. "But he knows now, doesn't he? You told him we broke up or something during the festival, didn't you?"

"I tried, I swear, but that Ludicolo seems to have problems discerning objective reality." Scylla covered her face with her tail fin. She told him, she really did. It wasn't her fault that the Ludicolo hadn't believed her.

"Wait, he still believes that lie?" Zephyr asked, trying to hold back a grin.

Scylla nodded from behind her tail. "Yeah… Funny, isn't it?"

"No, that's not funny in the slightest," Agni said. "Make sure you correct his misconception."

"Um, I'll try, of course, but don't you think you're overreacting a little? It's not really that big of a deal…"

"I don't want to be associated with someone from the Kiwi," he stated in a rather uncaring tone. Fairly cold for a fire-type. He then turned to Skoll and Lumis. "I'm sure you have already figured it out by context, but I'll spell it out so that there are no misunderstandings: We're not mates in any way or matter, nor have any kind of relationship whatsoever."

And this was supposed to be a fun meeting between friends. Woo. Way to kill the mood. Someone needed to intercede to ease tensions, and soon. Luckily for everyone, one of the three pokémon that had just arrived to the plaza was up to the task.

"Wee! So much cuteness gathered in the same place!" the Sylveon cheerily said – well, yelled. "I swear, this degree of adorableness can't be legal!"

It was, of course, Kizuna, who had just arrived at the Kiwi's plaza along with Ivy and Safira. The Leafeon gave the group a quick look, and once she took notice of the Nightingale duo's presence, a smile came to her face. "Oh, glad you came after all. We feared you would stay at the Nightingale instead of coming here, since we agreed to meet there."

"We guessed you would come here after all," Skoll said. "Great minds think alike."

Scylla started to walk away from Agni, much to his relief, to get closer to the Sylveon. "Hey, Kizzie! How've you been?"

The Sylveon's bows started to flutter about erratically, making her excitement manifest. "Great, but I really wanted to see you again! It's been, what, seven months?"

"One day, Kizzie," Scylla said in the middle of laughter. "You last saw me yesterday at the Calandra."

"But that's a lot of time! One day, twenty four hours, one thousand four hundred forty minutes, eighty six thousand four hundred dreaded seconds!"

"Missed us, uh?" Zephyr was beaming wide, the Sylveon was being just way too cute to resist. "On a scale from one to ten?"

"Ten thousand!"

"That breaks quite a few laws of mathematics," Lumis said in a low voice, almost in a whisper. He had hidden behind Skoll as soon as the Sylveon appeared, but since she didn't seem to be paying him any attention, he relaxed a bit. At any rate, he might as well say 'hello' to the three newcomers. "Um, good morning."

"Yo." Ivy was being incredibly casual, but this was her time-off, she wasn't going to waste her time with formalisms. She not-so-subtly poked her sister's side with her leafy tail, as if telling her to say hello to them.

"H-Hi," Safira managed to say, not without some stuttering.

And with that, everyone present had greeted each other… except for, once again, the Flareon. Agni felt the weight of their gazes pressing on him, expecting him to say some variation of 'hello'. He would have sworn both the Espeon and the Glaceon had only talked out of obligation, and his situation was no different. "Hello." What was even the point of saying those words, he wondered.

"Well, now that we're all together…" Ivy wondered what they were supposed to do, exactly. They had a lot of fun during the festival, but that was because there was a party and whatnot. What were they going to do? Had Scylla called them there for any reason in particular?

Ivy briefly wondered what everyone else's reasons to come were. Kizuna likely didn't need one, getting to meet them again was more than enough. That was also likely Scylla's reason. And Skoll's. And maybe even Zephyr's. However, Agni and Lumis looked a little more bored by comparison, which made her think that maybe they hadn't come entirely on their own volition, but pressed by Zephyr and Skoll. Now that Ivy thought about it, could that be the reason Safira had come at all, only because she was going to come too? She hoped her sister didn't feel forced to be there.

In any case, Ivy's reason for being there was actually quite simple: networking. As a future leader, it was indispensable for her to make contacts with as many people as possible, and the eeveelutions present were as varied as they come: a metallurgist, two defenders, a famous performer, a researcher, and, most of all, a chronicler. All of these contacts at such a young age… Her father would be proud. In fact, she was certain her father was proud.

But still, why had they all been gathered there? Scylla was the host, so surely she would know. "I kinda have a reason for calling you all here today. Although to be honest it's more of an excuse to see you all than anything." Agni seemed a bit annoyed, but the rest didn't seem to care as much. This was the reaction Scylla had expected, so she resumed speaking. "I met Minos the other day."

Zephyr, being the one most familiarized with the Luxray after Scylla, spoke out without thinking. "You saw him, seriously?"

"Minos? Isn't that the Lu… Lux…" Skoll struggled to remember the name of their species. Bah, who cares, they knew perfectly who he was talking about. "That's the lion guy from the Blue Warbler, right? Isn't he with the Beacon now?"

"Did you tell the Garnet Oriole about it?" Ivy asked. Contacting the police upon spotting a criminal seemed like the logical course of action to her.

"Uh, no, I didn't. I didn't have the time, he fled," Scylla explained. "But that's not what's interesting. You see, he came to the Coral Sittella searching for a, uh, a 'shard', he called it. It was pretty weird. It looked like a flat stone."

Agni's ears perked up at her words. Shard? A flat stone? While the others chatted among themselves, he recalled his encounter with the Absol back at the Amber Crane's Haecceity factory. Was this a coincidence or…? "Like a clear blue, almost crystal-looking stone with a bizarre shape?"

"Uh, yes." Scylla stared at him, stunned. How did he know about its color or shape? "How do you…?"

"It's… I think the thing that Absol came looking for looked like that."

"Absol. What."

Agni's comment got him a few questioning gapes. He was joking, right? An Absol? That sounded so surrealistic.

"What are you talking about?" Ivy asked, now curious. "Someone care to explain? Are we talking in code now or what?"

"The Amber Crane was attacked a few days ago," Zephyr told them. "I wasn't present at the time, but both Agni and Opal swear an Absol attacked them."

"He took an item just like the one you described, and he called it a 'shard'," Agni said. "This item was inside one of our machines, which he broke, by the way."

"Yeah, we can confirm that at least," Skoll said. "They called us to repair that thing."

"But that's stupid. Absol don't exist," Ivy firmly stated. But of course they didn't, everybody knew that. "Right, Saf?"

"Right…" The existence of a creature capable of distorting nature at will seemed asinine to Safira, but she couldn't help but recall their father mentioning townsfolk's rumors about spotting an Absol around the area. What if they were right? What if…?

"Hey, you're a scientist or something, aren't you?" Zephyr's question was directed at the Espeon, who seemed a little taken aback by the suddenness of his inquiry.

"Yes…?"

"So what's your opinion on this? Do you know if Absol exist?"

While Lumis appreciated that the Jolteon trusted his judgment, he really didn't know much. "I'm afraid I can't really say for sure. The idea does sound absurd, though…"

"I'm not lying. I know I saw an Absol," Agni insisted.

"I'm not suggesting you're lying or anything of the sort," Lumis quickly corrected. "But it does seem strange… Uh, Kizuna, as a chronicler, this is something you should know, right? Whether they exist or not."

Of course, asking the chronicler was the obvious solution! How come they didn't think of it before? And thus, Kizuna proceeded to solve all of their doubts.

"No clue."

Whelp, that didn't help. But perhaps the Sylveon's words required a clarification, Safira thought. "What do you mean?"

"No Absol has ever stepped into the Heptagonal Ring, at least according to the Observatory," Kizuna clarified. "This Absol you're talking about didn't appear in the Observatory last time I checked."

"What does that mean…?" Scylla thought out loud. If a pokémon from the Ring didn't appear in the Observatory, then that meant…

They all reached the same conclusion, Skoll being the only one who dared spell it out. "That Absol is a chronicler."

"What?" Although Agni had also arrived to the same conclusion, he didn't want to believe it. "No. No, don't even say that as a joke."

"Wait, let's not jump to conclusions here. There are other possible explanations," Kizuna said, perhaps in an attempt to calm down the Flareon. "The Observatory had been malfunctioning for seven months, so he could just be an outsider that arrived here during that window of time."

But that didn't matter in the end. The fact was, an Absol was around, and the Observatory was unable to detect it. It's not like there was much they could do about it. Opal saw the Absol herself, and she would no doubt contact Garm and the Garnet Oriole about it, so they should be able to take care of the problem.

Skoll, however, was more intrigued about those shard items they had mentioned. "So two shady characters are looking for these 'shard' things. What does this tell us?"

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "That some criminals have way too much free time in their hands?"

"Maybe. But most likely, they wouldn't be wasting their time on something like this for no reason," Skoll said. "Maybe there's a reason two different outlaws are looking for these things. Didn't you guys hear them say anything weird? Anything at all?"

Agni tried to recall the events of that day, but didn't remember anything in particular that they could use as a clue. Scylla, on the other hand, was luckier. "I think I heard Minos say… um, no, never mind."

"What?" Skoll asked. "Please, tell us. If they're involved in criminal activities, any help is welcome. As a defender, it is our duty to collaborate with the Red Oriole to bring outlaws to justice."

Very well. She would tell him. "Minos said, if I'm remembering correctly, that every one of our ancestors had one of these 'shards'. So… I don't know, I guess that means there's one in each node?"

That… seemed like some rather important information. Not something she should have withheld. "Did you tell the Oriole about this?" Zephyr asked.

"Um… No…"

"You probably should," Skoll said. "I'm sure they'll appreciate any information you can give them, no matter how insignificant it seems." But that didn't sound insignificant at all.

"So there's like two criminal bands out there competing for the shards?" Ivy wondered. "That can't be good."

"Or the Absol could belong to the Beacon," Zephyr suggested, drawing a few shocked glares. "Let's hope that's not the case."

"So what are those shards, exactly?" Skoll asked the Flareon and the Vaporeon. "Can you give us a more… thorough description?"

"I didn't get to see it well," Agni admitted. "It was light blue, like a flattened stone."

"Pretty much that," Scylla added. "I think it might have glistened a little, or maybe it was just wet. And it had a weird shape."

"What shape?" Skoll further inquired. "A triangle? A pentagon? Please, don't tell me it's a damn heptagon of all things."

"Uh, no, I don't think it was shaped like any polygon of any sort. The shape seemed kind of… random."

What a weird description. Skoll thought about it for a moment, but nothing came to mind. "Lum, does that description ring a bell? Ever heard of something like that?"

Lumis closed his eyes to think, but after a few seconds he opened them once again and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I don't remember ever working with any substance that looked like that. And you, Safira?"

Uh? He was asking her? The Glaceon wouldn't deny that she felt elated a researcher from the Nightingale placed confidence in her, but unfortunately she'd have to disappoint him. "No, sorry."

"Well, it doesn't matter what those things are right now," Zephyr said. "Scylla, make sure you tell the Oriole about this. This is something they'll want to know."

"Ah, sure, I will tell them." But not today, of course. Scylla wanted to spend the rest of the day with them. She could go tell Garm any other day.

"So there's one of those things at each node?" Ivy asked.

"Minos said there was one for each ancestor," Scylla recalled. "So I guess that's the most logical conclusion to make. Why?"

"Then the ones at the Amber Crane and the Coral Sittella have been found already, but what about the other ones?" the Leafeon wondered.

Skoll stared at her for a brief moment, and his rings started to shine faintly. "Oh dear, you're not thinking of searching for the rest, are you?"

"No, what I meant is, well, they must be looking for the rest, right? So that means they will appear at our nodes at some point or another."

Indeed, the Absol had attacked the Amber Crane in his search for one of the shards, so who's to say he wouldn't do the same at other nodes? Or the Beacon, for that matter?

Skoll's rings seemed to fade. "What, scared?" Made sense. Ivy and her sister lived at the Haecceity with their father. If the Amber Crane's Haecceity was assaulted, so could any other Haecceity.

"Didn't say that." Even though she was just a merchant, Ivy deeply trusted her own skills, and if things turned awry she could always rely on the Scizor Higure and the other defenders of her node. If anything, she feared more for her sister's and her father's safety, since neither of them knew much more than basic self-defense. "All nodes should be informed of this, so that they could start looking for these shards. We, at the very least, will make sure to tell our father about it."

"Sounds good to me," Skoll said with a smirk. "But that said, how about we actually try to look for those shards?"

All seven gazes set on the Umbreon, all of them questioning his intent. Agni seemed like the more disconcerted one. "And just why would we look for them? Once Scylla tells Garm, he and his Oriole can take care of everything, from informing the other nodes to searching for those things."

"True, but we are defenders," Skoll said as he approached the Jolteon. "We're expected to collaborate with the Oriole whenever possible."

Zephyr eyed the Umbreon curiously as he drew near. He was right. Their duty as defenders was to ensure the stability of the whole region. "I guess you have a point there."

Agni didn't complain to that. If it was their job as defenders, he couldn't see a problem with it. "Fine, that I can understand, but the rest of us aren't defenders."

"Agni, we're not involving any civilians, if that's what you're thinking," Zephyr said. Of course, he had no right to ask the others for help, but for some reason, he had a hunch they would offer to help him anyway.

Kizuna proved him right. "Then you're lucky I'm not a civilian! I mean, as a chronicler this is kind of my duty, yes? And since I'm responsibility personified, I just can't say no."

Agni nodded apathetically at the Sylveon, watching as her bows danced around erratically. "Okay, chroniclers, I get it. Just don't count the rest of us in."

"Easy, fluffs. You don't speak for them." Skoll raised his voice a little, starting to get a bit fed up with the Flareon's apparently unending negativity. He was supposed to be the dark-type here, dammit. "If you don't want to help us, that's your choice and I'm cool with it, but let everyone else decide for themselves."

Agni looked away from him, his eyes eventually setting on Zephyr for no particular reason. Why was the Umbreon raising his voice now? He had no reason to be angry. He was not the one who had to come here against his will, only because his sister wouldn't stop pestering him about it. "Well, I don't hear anyone joining you. Just saying."

"Maybe I…" Ivy spoke out without thinking, but immediately cut herself short. Should she really do this? After giving the Umbreon, the Jolteon and the Sylveon a quick look she firmly nodded, mostly to herself, as if to reaffirm her decision. "As a future leader, I cannot simply ignore something like this. I cannot ask for the people's trust if I run from problems affecting the whole Ring. And, what the hell, I'm a merchant, so if there's a strange unknown item out there I want to know all about it."

Her words got a smile out of the defenders and Kizuna, and made Skoll's rings shine brightly. There was something about her voice that was really soothing, although maybe that was a trait shared by all grass-types.

Motivated by the good mood, Scylla decided to show them her support too. "Hey, if everyone is joining I'm not gonna get left behind. I might not be a defender or a chronicler, nor related to a leader, but I'll still help you out with anything I can."

The Leafeon and the Vaporeon too? Agni was having a hard time believing his fluffy ears. "C'mon, are the Espeon and the Glaceon the only rational ones here?"

Skoll turned his head back to his feline partner from the Azure Nightingale. "What're you talking about? Good ol' Lum is helping us, right?"

Lumis' gaze lowered to the ground as he scratched the tuft of velvety hair on the right side of his head. He wasn't so sure he wanted to get involved. "I'm not really… I doubt I could do much to help."

So he was uncertain, uh? Yes, Skoll knew his friend to be somewhat indecisive at times. But you don't know someone for all those years without learning some of their weak points. "Aren't you curious to know what those shards are, Lum?"

The violet eyes of the Espeon appeared to glisten for a moment. "That's… well, I'm curious, yes. But I don't really…"

"And if we get our paws on one of these shards, I'm sure we could send it to the laboratories for a quick analysis," Skoll said.

Suddenly, any doubts the Espeon might have had seemed to evaporate. "Really…?"

"I guess it's not entirely impossible," Zephyr said. "We'd need the Oriole's permission for this, of course, but it shouldn't be too hard to get. If it is an unknown item after all, they'll want to know what it is exactly, and that's where the Azure Nightingale comes in."

The Espeon's twin tails started to twirl around each other as he timidly poked the ground, a gesture that brought a smile to the Umbreon's face. His body language was hardly a mystery to Skoll. He knew well what the Espeon's dallying meant. Lumis was persuaded, perhaps even thrilled, but wanted to appear calm and collected. Oh well. Let him, Skoll thought.

Finally, after a short period of silence, Lumis spoke. "Very well. I doubt I can be of much help, but if there's anything I can do to assist any of you, please feel free to contact me."

Agni stared at the Espeon with a hint of disillusionment in his eyes. "So just the Glaceon, then?"

Ivy gave her sister a glance, but didn't say anything. While she kinda wanted Safira by her side, she didn't want to put her safety in jeopardy. Ivy knew how influential she was to her little sister, and didn't want to accidentally influence her decision.

And yet, the Glaceon looked at her with begging eyes, as if asking for help. It seemed like she really couldn't make a decision. "What do you want to do, Saf? It's okay if you stay away from all this."

"I… don't know…" Safira lowered her gaze, if only to avoid the eyes of the others. She was really, really hesitant right now, unsure of what to say. "What… um, what would helping you entail, exactly?"

Zephyr answered her little query. "Not much. If you see or hear anything, let's say, suspicious, we'd appreciate it if you told us, or told your sister."

Okay, that didn't sound so bad… Safira did want to help her sister and her father in anything she could, at the very least. Plus, she was a tiny little bit curious about those 'shard' items, although she couldn't quite say if that was her merchant descent or her scientific curiosity talking.

"Um, okay."

"Oh? Well, if that's what you want," Ivy said in the most unruffled tone she could muster. The truth was, she was quite delighted her sibling was participating too, but didn't want to let it show. She had to keep up appearances. "But don't you worry too much about it, okay? Just tell me or Dad if anything weird happens."

"So it's official. You're all crazy," Agni said in an exasperated tone, one of his ears half-lowered.

"Wanna join us in our insanity?" Skoll proposed with a laugh.

Needless to say, the Flareon didn't find his antics funny. He wanted nothing to do with this. Although…

No, what was he even thinking? Why was he even considering it? This was all incredibly stupid, and a waste of time. "Look, if you all want to play hero and go search for some stupid stones as if that was somehow important, go on. Just don't count me in, that sounds too much fun and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to take it."

"What? Of course you can!" Kizuna said, apparently oblivious to his sarcasm. "Fire-types are resistant to fairy-types, and as far as I can tell, 'fun' and 'fairy' are two interchangeable terms."

"Yeah, well, I'm still passing," Agni insisted. "And, I mean, how would you even go about it? You don't even know where those shards are."

"At the nodes, dude," Skoll said. "That's what Scylla just said, didn't you hear her? Was all your attention focused on her fins or what?"

Agni gritted his teeth, but didn't answer back. Why, he considered himself too mature to fall for such a simple provocation. "Yes, at the nodes, but where exactly?"

That was a good question. They really had no idea. All Scylla had said was that, according to Minos, each of their ancestors had a shard.

Ivy thought about it for a moment. Maybe they were going about it the wrong way. "Maybe, instead of thinking about the nodes, we should be thinking about the ancestors themselves."

Scylla nodded at the grass-type. "Now that you mention it, Minos knew that the Sittella's shard would be somewhere a Floatzel could easily access, and the ancestor of the Coral Sittella, Turuncu, was a Floatzel."

"What about the Absol? How did he know where the shard was?" Agni wondered. "My ancestor was a Typhlosion. I don't know what that has to do with an Absol or the machine or anything."

"Good question," Zephyr said. "Maybe he had information we don't?"

"Well, let's think of our ancestors, then," Ivy said. "Kirmizi, Turuncu, Sari, Yesil, Mavi, Lacivert and Mor, that's all seven of them. So, now we have to… predict how would they act? Try to guess where would they hide their shards?"

This gave Scylla an idea. "If we want to know more about our ancestors, why not visit the Kiwi's leader? If there's someone who knows about the founders, that's her."

"The Kiwi's leader? Who?" Skoll asked Lumis. The only leaders he remembered were Soren and Garm, and that was more than enough for him.

"Ah, yes, of course she could help us with this," Lumis said. It was so obvious, how come he hadn't thought about it? "I second that motion. Let's go to the Lilac Kiwi's Haecceity."

"But, hey, who's the Kiwi's leader?" Kizuna asked.

Scylla then proceeded to –

Wait a minute. Did the chronicler just ask a question? The absurdity of the situation wasn't lost on any of the eeveelutions present.

"The Kiwi's leader, my leader," Scylla insisted, but it was pointless. Kizuna simply didn't know who she was talking about. "You don't know about her? How is that possible?"

"She never appeared in the Observatory, I dunno why," the pink fairy-type said with a shrug. "I always thought your leader might be a chronicler in secret. That would explain it, since the Observatory can't archive information about chroniclers." It's not something she liked to admit, but Kizuna knew the Observatory had its limitations. She still trusted it wholly, though. It's all she'd had for most of her life, really.

"I think there might be another explanation," Scylla mumbled, deep in thought. "Maybe. Of course, I don't really know how your Observatory works, but my leader is rather… peculiar. Seriously, let's just go meet her. I'm sure you'll understand then."

"Uh? But do you know where she is?" Skoll asked.

"Of course! She's always at the Haecceity. She hardly ever leaves that place," Scylla said. She didn't remember ever seeing her leader outside of the Kiwi's Haecceity, although she had only spoken to her three or four times. "Let's go see her. You're all coming, right?"

Even if Agni wasn't interested in the search for the shards, what else was he going to do? Wait here alone at the plaza? Go back to his node without his cousin? He might as well tag along, at least for the time being. No point in lingering there any longer. The Lilac Kiwi's Haecceity was near. They had a leader to meet.


In spite of how pompous the Lilac Kiwi tended to be, its Haecceity wasn't all too different from other Haecceities. Just a medium-sized edifice of violet Adamantium walls, although one could argue the color was rather gaudy. The interior was as modest as the exterior façade, just a few rooms connected by corridors covered in purple tiles. Also of note were the many books, papers and manuscripts they found all around the place, completely disorganized. One could say interior design wasn't the Kiwi's forte.

Scylla led the way until they found themselves in the Haecceity's main chamber, where the leader rested, reading a very interesting book with the title 70 wonderful tales from all around the world. Scylla noted that she had always found her leader reading on all of her visits. She assumed it was a hobby of hers.

Being the well-mannered kid she was, Scylla greeted her leader. "Hello, Mor! I've brought some friends, I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, don't you worry, sweetheart. I don't mind in the slightest," I said.

The rest of eeveelutions took a good look at me. My species wasn't hard to discern, especially in the Heptagonal Ring. Everybody knew what a Mismagius was and looked like.

"Did you just call her 'Mor'?" Skoll said. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"That's the name of one of the Heptagonal Ring's founders," Zephyr reminded him. "And if I recall correctly, she was a Mismagius too." He stood silent for a handful of seconds until he reached the inevitable conclusion. "No freaking way. She can't be… What's this, a joke?"

"Oh, didn't you know?" Lumis would be more than glad to tell them then, his ears raised with pride. "The leader of the Lilac Kiwi is actually the original founder of the Lilac Kiwi, one of our ancestors, the Mismagius Mor. The Kiwi has always had the same leader."

"But… wait, just how old is this hag?" Skoll aske – Oh, what the hell, what you mean hag? That's not nice at all, Skoll. Thank goodness I always keep my manners.

"I'm a young'un. I'm merely 8400 years old."

Skoll cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"You look 8200!" the really kind Sylveon said.

I cackled at the Sylveon's comment. How very nice of her. "You found yourself an interesting group of friends, Scylla. Care to introduce us?"

"Of course!" And one by one, Scylla pointed at every eeveelution as she told me their names. "Those are Agni from the Amber Crane and his cousin Zephyr from the Warbler, those two boys over there both belong to the Nightingale, Lumis and Skoll, and the two girls are the daughters of Linze, the Calandra's leader, Ivy and Safira. Oh, and that's Kizuna, although she usually goes by Kizzie. She's a chronicler."

"My pleasu – My, a chronicler, you say?" I was understandably surprised. Now, it's not like that was the first time I have seen a chronicler, not by far, but you don't usually meet them so young. "You really don't waste your time, Scylla. You really don't."

"So that's why you don't appear in the Observatory…" Kizuna said. "The Observatory was built more than 7000 years ago, not long after the Heptagonal Ring was founded. None of the original founders appears in it."

"You're spot on, little one." I was still a bit shocked of seeing such a young chronicler in front of me. It was my understanding that they always stayed at the Observatory under an older chronicler's supervision until they were old enough, and while this Sylveon was hardly a kid, she wasn't what I would consider an old pokémon. She was, what, a teen, a young adult maybe? Mammalian ages are hard to discern when you're a ghost. "Now you make me wonder, what is the motive for this visit? Pure courtesy, or…?"

"Actually, we had a question to ask you, Mor," Scylla said. She had known me for slightly longer than the rest, so perhaps she felt it was her responsibility to act as their spokesperson. "Can you tell us about the other founders, your old allies?"

What a peculiar query. They came for a history lesson? But they were lucky, because I simply loved telling stories. "For starters, you could say time hasn't been kind to them. As in, almost all of them are dead. Few species are as long-lived as ghosts, I guess. Why are you asking, though?"

Maybe the best way to go was to be sincere, Scylla thought. They didn't really have any reason to hide anything from me. "We want to know about, uh, the shards."

"Shards?" If I had mammalian ears, they would have perked up. "I hadn't heard that word for millennia."

"Have you heard of the Beacon?" Skoll asked me.

"Beacons? Yes, I've read about them. They're human constructs that serve as a navigational aid for ships in the sea."

"Uh, no, not that. The criminal band."

"Criminal band…?" I hadn't heard of such a thing prior to that.

"Haven't you heard of it? They were present during the festival," Ivy said.

"Festival…?" Please, do not assume age has made this troubadour featherbrained. When you live this long, time just starts losing its meaning, and dates are simply no longer relevant. "The one to commemorate our 7777th anniversary? Did I miss it?"

"I'm afraid you did," Scylla told me. Oh, what a shame.

"But all leaders gathered not long ago to talk about this," Ivy said. "Even our father went to that reunion, I think all leaders did. Well, except for Zvonimir, of course."

"I'm afraid I missed that appointment too." Heavens, I can't be this absentminded and forgetful. "Zvonimir was absent too, you say? Why?"

No, I didn't know about the Noivern's betrayal either, but the Jolteon was about to tell me anyway. "He abandoned our node and joined the Beacon, that criminal band we're talking about. He's positioned himself at the Conflux and isn't letting anyone near the Kernel Ore."

"That's bad…" I lowered my head slightly, enough for my hat to cover part of my face. I didn't like what I was hearing. "And why would this Beacon do something like that?"

"They want to put an end to Adamantium," Kizuna explained. "And we know at least one of their members is a chronicler to boot."

I stood silent for a moment, staring into the Sylveon's clear blue eyes. That was a lot to digest… "Perhaps it would be better if I talked to Garm about this. He could fill me in on the details." Seemed like a good idea. Thankfully, movement is never a concern for ghosts. Teleportation is a very nifty skill to have, and phasing through walls is also worth mentioning. "Still, why did you mention shards before? Where have you heard about them?"

"One of the guys from the Beacon was looking for the shards," Scylla told me. "What are they, exactly? Why do they want them?"

"That's a good question, indeed. We broke that thing for a reason." After a short meditative silence, I continued speaking. "You said they wanted to get rid of Adamantium, right? I wonder if maybe… No, this can't be his doing. Not after all this time."

A lot of muttering and mumbling, but I wasn't really saying anything. Ivy was growing impatient. "So what do we do about the shards?"

"I'll talk to Garm about it. I'm sure the Oriole can take care of finding them, perhaps with the assistance of the other nodes' defenders."

"But we want to help too," she insisted.

"Sweetie, I can't really ask you to –"

"We're both defenders," Zephyr said, walking beside the Umbreon. "I'm sure Garm can do a great job organizing a search once you tell him, but it won't hurt if we look for the shards on our own too."

I wondered what to do. Garm was a professional and would do a better job than any of them, that much was certain, but that didn't mean their efforts would be futile. And after all, they had been the ones coming to ask me on their own volition. Plus, they had a chronicler with them.

And most importantly, they were so cute all together… Contrary to popular belief, we ghosts do have hearts.

"Very well, boys and girls, sit around in a circle and I'll tell you a little story about how we founded the Heptagonal Ri–"

"You don't need to tell us the whole thing," Skoll said. "Just where everyone hid their shards." First he calls me a hag and now he interrupts me? How impolite. He was lucky my patience was infinite.

"Well, I'm afraid I don't know where everyone else hid theirs, because that's precisely the purpose of hiding things."

"Anything you can tell us? Anything at all?" Scylla asked. "Like… their personalities or something? Maybe that can give us a clue."

"Their personalities? Well, let me think…"

I reminisced about the time when we fortuitously chanced upon the Kernel Ore, and how we constructed an entire metropolis around it, which we would now call the 'Heptagonal Ring'. Ah, those were the times. I remember it like it was yesterday. But it wasn't yesterday, it was 7777 years ago.

"I know the location of at least one of their shards," I said. "Sari, the Typhlosion that founded the Amber Crane was way too trusting for her own good. So much, that she straight out told us where she was going to hide her shard, inside a machine of her construction. That machine must be really old now, but Sari was one of the best engineers you'd ever meet, so I bet that artifact is still functional to this day. It must be somewhere in the Amber Crane node."

"Yes, we know about that one already," Agni said. "That's the one the Absol took."

"Absol?" I repeated. Had he really said that? "Wait, they exist?"

"Apparently."

I was more than a bit surprised. It would have never occurred to me that one of those mythical beasts existed, but even at my advanced age you still learn new things every day.

The Flareon resumed speaking. "That makes me wonder how he knew where the shard was. He went straight for it. He knew perfectly that it was inside the machine."

"But that isn't that strange, is it?" Skoll said, turning to the Flareon behind him. "The lady ghost just said your founder didn't make it a secret where she was going to keep her shard, so anyone who knows a bit about their history should know where it was. Lum, for instance, did you know about this?"

"This isn't really my specialty. I'm not an historian," Lumis said. History had never been one of his interests, curiously. "I haven't even heard about shards prior to this."

"And you, Saf?" Skoll asked, this time to the Glaceon.

She kinda liked how she had apparently become the second go-to person to ask for academic knowledge after the Espeon. But, while she showed somewhat more interest in history than the cat, her knowledge was still not enough. "No, sorry."

"Agh, I'm running out of options here." Skoll didn't know who else to ask. Maybe the Sylveon? She was a chronicler, if someone knew, that would be her. "Kizzie, give us a hand?"

But the Umbreon was out of luck. Kizuna shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't know about Sari's shard either. I don't remember seeing anything in the Observatory about shards or any information regarding our ancestors."

"Then I don't understand. How in the world did that Absol know the location of the Crane's shard?" It seemed like even chroniclers had trouble finding that kind of information. Just who was that Absol? Skoll really had no clue. "But I guess we're not going to find any answers by just standing here."

"We already know about the shards at the Crane and the Sittella, but how about the others?" Zephyr asked me.

"Oh, the one at the Coral Sittella has also been found? Then I won't bore you with the stories of the Floatzel Turuncu. Now, who should I talk about next?"

"Maybe our ancestor?" Ivy proposed. "It was a Cacturne, right? The merchant Yesil."

"Ah, yes, he was a great merchant indeed. He was so obsessed with commerce, that I wouldn't put it past him to have sold his shard at some point of his life." My words made the Leafeon giggle. "While I am a great joke teller, that wasn't intended as a joke, dear. I genuinely think Yesil would have sold his shard to anyone who offered a decent sum of money."

"Wait, are you serious?" Ivy fired a quick glance to her sister before returning her gaze to me. "I didn't know our ancestor was so… irresponsible."

"Well, not necessarily. If you think about it, randomness is a perfectly viable strategy to hide something. It's especially difficult to find an item when not even its owner is aware of its whereabouts."

"That seems really… arbitrary," Safira said, agreeing with the Leafeon. "But how do we know who he sold it to?"

"Whoever he or she was, they're most definitely dead by now," Lumis noted. "Few pokémon can live for so many millennia."

"Then I guess their children might have inherited it," Ivy said. "And they might have sold it again. And then the buyers might have sold it again, and again, and again…"

"So the Calandra's shard has passed through many hands, is that what you're saying?" Skoll asked, wanting to make sure he was getting the story right.

"It's a node of merchants, so it's a big possibility," Ivy said. If that was the case, how were they going to know who had the shard nowadays? They didn't even have any guarantee it was in the Beryl Calandra anymore. "Dad is kind of the 'boss' of merchants, so to speak. I'm sure he can pull a few strings to find out who has the shard now."

That sounded like a good idea. Linze, being the leader of the Beryl Calandra, should have mercantile contacts in all nodes, so it shouldn't take him too long to locate any item in particular.

"Yes, let Linze take care of it," I advised. Since the Espeon and the Umbreon had just spoken, I decided I might as well talk about their ancestor now. "Now, let's talk about Mavi, founder of the Azure Nightingale. He…" But I stopped, for in all honesty, there wasn't really much I could tell them about him. "Your ancestor was a Metagross, and there is little more I could tell you about him. We can't possibly understand how his thinking processes work. The minds of psychic-types are typically almost impossible to follow."

"Lum is a psychic-type too," Skoll noted.

"Yes, but Mavi was, I insist, a Metagross. They're known to have four highly advanced brains. While I don't question that the cat here is easily more intelligent than me, I'm afraid that Mavi is way out of his league. He's out of everyone's intellectual league."

Lumis' ears dropped at my words. Being someone who used his brain as his main working tool, he didn't like being told his intelligence wasn't enough. "Then what do we do about that shard?"

I looked up to the ceiling to think. I couldn't, because my oversized hat covered my vision. "I sincerely have no idea. I'd recommend you to ignore that one, at least for the time being. Let's focus on the rest."

"The Warbler, for instance," Zephyr said. It seemed like the Jolteon wanted to talk about the founder of his node next. I had no preference, so I humored him.

"Lacivert was quite likely the strongest pokémon I have ever met. No wonder he founded a node with battling as its cornerstone. However, do not assume that Garchomp was stupid just because he was a brawler. Au contraire, he was one of the brightest minds of the group, not to the level of Mavi, but still a very shrewd dragon. Being part ground-type, he would have had no trouble crossing the desert, so he could have hidden it practically anywhere."

"I guess we could ask Jormund for help," Lumis suggested. He knew the eyes of a Flygon were great for scouting for items hidden in the sands. "He's a defender, I'm sure he'll lend us a hand."

"And lastly, we have Kirmizi from the Garnet Oriole." Even though none of the eeveelutions present belonged to that node, I thought they might have wanted to hear me talk about its founder anyway. "Her node might represent the ideals of justice and integrity, but to be fair she was a little bit of a… coward. She used to hide behind her Pawniard lackeys, just like most other Bisharp. Perhaps it seems a bit ironic that a dark-type would be the founder of the node dedicated to justice." I noticed perhaps too late that my words may have offended the dark-type Umbreon present, but when I looked at him, he didn't seem upset at all. "Knowing her, I'm sure Kirmizi would have given her shard to her Pawniard cronies for protection, as well as to avoid responsibilities."

Skoll turned to Lumis, a smile on his muzzle. "Then that's not so bad, is it? We just have to look in places those guys can reach. What type are they?"

"Part steel…" Lumis answered. He needed say no more for the rest of eeveelutions to understand. Steel-types, including partial steel-types, could last long under the fierce winds of the desert, so just like with the Warbler's Garchomp before, that shard could be anywhere in the desert. "Again, we could ask Jormund for help."

The Nightingale's Flygon was probably their best bet finding those two shards. They'd have to trust him, since none of the eeveelutions would be able to withstand the sandstorms for long. An hour or two maybe, but that wasn't nearly enough to scour the vast desert.

Zephyr approached me, his face telling me that he wanted to ask me something. "But there's still a seventh shard left, right? The Lilac Kiwi's. You know, yours."

"Yes, my shard is still in my possession. Why? Do you want it?"

"Uh, no, that's not… I mean, if they were to attack you, do you think you could protect the shard?"

"No, I don't think so," I admitted, smiling wryly. "I'm afraid age begets wisdom, but not power. I've never called myself a fighter. I'm an entertainer first and foremost, that's why I founded the Lilac Kiwi in the first place."

"Then wouldn't it be better if you gave that to us?" Skoll suggested, saying what Zephyr seemed reluctant to say. "Or to Garm or the chroniclers."

I looked upwards to the crystalline ceiling, spinning my whole body as if I were resting on an invisible floating bed mid-air. "To be honest, I would first have to search for it. It must be somewhere in my many mounds of manuscripts and scrolls around the Haecceity."

Skoll sighed, as did many of the other eeveelutions. "Dear lord…" They were showing me a great deal of patience, I must concede.

"But even if I find it, I still don't think they'll attack me just like that. Not so brusquely."

"What makes you think that?" Agni wondered, thinking that maybe I was being too confident.

"If that Absol knew where the Amber Crane's shard was, that must mean he is acquainted with someone who knows our story. Surely, they must also know that I am alive, and yet they haven't come to attack me." That begged the question of who would know so much about the founders. I did have my theories at the time, of course, and I would later learn that I was right. "Still, I'll try to contact the chroniclers once I find my shard."

Kizuna did a little hop in the spot. "Sure, just gimme a call!"

Zephyr bowed his head down. "Well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk with us."

"Sure." Skoll, while less formal, also looked grateful. "You're one cool ghost."

"Don't mention it." I noticed many polite nods and bows from the rest of eeveelutions. "Now, I'm sure Garm can take care of everything, so don't you worry your little heads over this too much. If you want to help, by all means do so, but don't let it consume you, okay? You all have your lives, and you're still pretty young. Much younger than me, that's for sure." I guffawed. What can I say, I laugh easily.

"Nah, don't worry about us," Ivy said. "We want to help if possible, but it's not like we're going to go crazy over the shards or anything. We'll go on with our daily lives. This is just something to do in the background."

Seeing all these young creatures with a long future ahead of them and so full of opportunities made me smile. "That's good to hear. That's what's important in the end, that you all live the lives you want to live. Do what you love, travel, learn, make friends, fall in love. Live a life others will want to narrate."

They were all deeply touched, profoundly moved, tears falling like waterfalls down their –

Well, okay, they actually thought that was a bit cheesy. But nonetheless, they stayed and chatted with me for a little, telling me about their lives and whatnot. I like hearing and telling stories, you see, for I am a troubadour after all.

We had a relaxed conversation, but they eventually decided to leave. Far from my intention to slow them down. I wanted them to live lives worth telling, so I bid them goodbye. As I had told them before, I went to talk with Garm. It wasn't really an eventful meeting, so you'll forgive me if I skip narrating it.


As they left the Kiwi's Haecceity, they wondered what to do for the rest of the day. But they were young, and they were at the always wonderful Lilac Kiwi, so they would no doubt find many ways to pass time.

As he stepped outside, for one reason or another, Zephyr was reminded of Vetr's words the previous day. Hadn't she asked him to tell Skoll about the upcoming tournament at the Cerulean Warbler? This was a good time as any to tell him.

"Hey, Skoll."

The Umbreon stopped at Zephyr's call, while the rest of the group kept walking on. "Yeah?"

"I went to the Warbler yesterday and talked with Vetr."

"Oh, Vetr?" Skoll smiled upon hearing the name of the Weavile. "So what about it? You wanna tell me she sends regards or something?"

"Kinda. Um, you know we're leaderless right now, right?"

"Yeah, your leader flew away," Skoll said, forcing himself to wince right afterwards. Maybe he shouldn't joke about this kind of topic. "So what's gonna happen to your node?"

"We're holding a tournament to decide the next leader," Zephyr said, drawing a surprised expression from the Umbreon that quickly died down, since he had already kind of expected that. "Well, to be fair, that's not quite it. We're holding a tournament for the hell of it. The leader thing almost seems more like tacked-on excuse than anything."

The Jolteon's comment made Skoll chuckle softly. Battling was sacred for the Warbler, he knew that, so of course they would start a tournament whenever they had the chance. And if it also helped them find a leader, well, all the better, but they weren't going to pretend that was the tourney's main purpose.

"Are you participating, man?" Skoll asked. "I won't ask you about Vetr. I know she's in, because but of course she is."

"Yeah, Vetr was one of the first to enlist, from what I heard. And I guess I'm participating too, although I'm still not sure if it is entirely out of my own will."

"Heh, good for you. You're not really interested in playing leader, I take it?"

"Basically. I'm still not sure why I joined. Well, of course I know, it was because of Vetr. I just can't say no to her," Zephyr said with a long sigh. "Those claws, dude. Those freaking claws. Don't want them anywhere near my face."

Skoll laughed once again. "We're lucky Vetr's hard to enrage."

"Yeah…" Wow, how had he gone so off-topic? That's not what he was supposed to tell him. Zephyr decided to get back on track. "So, uh, what do you think of the tournament? Interested in joining?"

The offer didn't particularly surprise the Umbreon. After all, the Warbler cared only about two things: battling and the possibility of more battling, and accepting challengers from other nodes only meant more battling.

"Oh, what the hell, I might as well," Skoll said as his rings shined with anticipation. "I'm a defender, so I can't be letting my fighting skills get too rusty, you know? Gotta polish them every now and then, and man, do the Warbler make good cleaners."

"You guys are talking about cleaning? Seriously?" Tired of waiting for them, Ivy had just approached Zephyr and Skoll while the rest of the group looked for a restaurant or a café or something, she hadn't been paying much attention. And what in the world were they talking about just now, anyway? Cleaning utensils or something? Didn't strike her as a topic they would favor. "Damn, I know less about males than I thought. Were you really talking about cleaning?"

"Well, you could say we were talking about sweeping all right," Skoll said with a grin, motivated both by the Leafeon's presence and the bad, bad joke he had just made. "Nah, we were talking 'bout Vetr."

"Aha! You were talking about girls, I called it!"

"About her claws, to be precise," Zephyr said.

"Um… okay? Some guys are into legs, some are into claws. I don't judge."

"No, it's about the tournament."

"Tournament?"

Zephyr nodded. "We're holding one to decide on our next leader. Vetr joined, and I guess I did too."

Ivy stared at Zephyr mutely with a mix of perplexity and awe. "Color me surprised. I had no idea you wanted to be a leader too."

"Uh? No, I don't. You can just pass on that, uh, 'prize' if you win," Zephyr told her. "I bet most people participating have no interest in being leaders either, they just want to beat each other up. Matchless sportsmanship, I'm telling you."

"Yeah, they're a fun bunch, the Warbler," Skoll added with a soft chuckle. "I'll probably also pass by the tourney and maybe rack up a victory or two, as well as many, many bruises."

"Uh? But you're from the Nightingale," Ivy noted.

"Yeah, so? It's the Warbler we're talking about. You know how much they love fighting. They'd let just about anyone participate."

"Anyone?"

"Yep."

"Anyone anyone?"

"Yes, anyone anyone, unless you're a, I dunno, an outlaw or something."

Ivy stared at her own tail for a moment for no particular reason, thinking. "So if, let's say, I wanted to join…"

"Pretty certain they would let you," Skoll said, as the yellow rings in his body started to light up. "Say, you wanna give it a try too? That'd be cool. The more the merrier, as they say."

Ivy stared down at her paws, her eyes lost in thought. She was genuinely considering the Umbreon's offer.

Her sudden seriousness made Zephyr feel slightly uneasy. She wasn't really thinking of joining the tournament, was she? "Ivy, you're not considering what I think you're considering, are you? Like, what, you want to be the leader of two nodes or…?"

"Ah? No, not that. I would turn the Warbler's leadership down if I won." Heh, 'if I won', she repeated mentally to herself. That sounded so good, had such a nice ring to it, even though she realistically knew it was simply not possible. "But I wouldn't mind testing my skills against other warriors."

"You know most of those guys have been trained from a young age, don't you?" Zephyr insisted, in an attempt to dissuade her from joining. It just didn't seem like a good idea to the Jolteon, Ivy looked too… delicate, was the word? "Really, do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"C'mon, Zephyr, you're starting to sound like my dad," she complained with an exaggeratedly pouty expression. Now that she thought about it, would her father approve of this? What a question, of course he wouldn't. But it's not like she was a child, he couldn't just tell her what to do. "I'll have you know I've received training from Higure, one of the best defenders of our node, ever since I was a little Eevee. I can defend myself, at the very least."

Zephyr thought her an overconfident fool, but who was he to stop her? "Well, it's your choice."

"Yeah, c'mon, don't be like that." Skoll walked to the Leafeon's side, all while eying her with a less than innocent expression. He seemed much more approving of Ivy's decision than Zephyr, at the very least. "Again, more people means more fun. And if the Warbler found out you were trying to discourage someone from fighting, they might just kick you out. Perhaps literally."

It was of course just a joke, as the Cerulean Warbler would never take such drastic measures, but still the Jolteon's attitude seemed to clash with what was expected from someone who belonged to the Warbler, a detail that didn't escape neither the Umbreon nor the Leafeon, who thought it a bit weird that Zephyr would have chosen to enlist in the Warbler in the first place.

"Well, do whatever you want, you two," Zephyr said to end the discussion. "Now, shouldn't we go catch up to the others? They're gonna get worried if we keep them waiting."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's move," Ivy said, throwing a quick glance at Skoll by her side to confirm he agreed with moving already.

The rest of the day flew by with no noteworthy events taking place, although it was actually a pretty enjoyable day for all of them, including Agni. Their routines wouldn't suffer much of a change, since they wouldn't really take much of an active role in finding the shards. That's what the Garnet Oriole was for, after all.