A Buneary paced back and forth thoughtfully. The grass was soft on his feet with the soothing tone of a river flowing close by to them made it hypnotizing. Uxie stared at him with his head moving in a pattern.
"I got the basics, but how am I sure that I can use a punch of the full Arc blessing on my own?" Luke questioned aloud.
"You won't. You'll have me and two other pokemon helping you. Even I'm not as concerned about that as you are..." Uxie remarked, "I'm concerned about how the scions are going to fare. This is mostly their battle, not yours. Not yet."
"You must be considering you want my bumbling bum as support." Luke nodded, "But isn't the white star pretty strong?"
"He's no older than you are... Perhaps." Uxie's voice trailed, "Well, in any case he's young and prone to panicking. It requires caution."
"Why don't Legendary pokemon choose older scions, and why doesn't anyone know how old I am?" Luke huffed.
"There is already an older scion. He's the only reason a fighting chance is even here." Uxie remarked, "Sogaleo picked a fine pokemon."
"Want to keep talking in the real world now?" Luke suggested, "Your mystery dungeons are kind of weird."
"This will be the last you'll see of my mystery dungeons, actually." Uxie nodded, "We need to make final preparations to head north. I have no doubt the Nightlight Association will be leaving at around the start of November, but we'll need to leave earlier."
"How much earlier?" Luke asked, "It just turned to October, and the time limit is the twenty-first of December..."
"We need to gather two of my old friends living in places along the way. I need their help to keep your body from exploding." Uxie said casually.
"I thought my training was supposed to keep my body from exploding." Luke murmured.
"Doing it yourself with your current level of experience is impossible." Uxie shook his head, "Shall we head back to the real world? You have a field trip tomorrow."
"I don't wanna go to a history museum, though..." Luke whined.
"Honestly, the trip is wasted on children... Perhaps in high school, it could make for a good short trip." Uxie thought aloud, "Regardless, try and see if something stirs your memory."
"How would ancient stuff stir my memory?" Luke questioned.
"I have no idea who you are besides that you have the Arc blessing and what that means." Uxie sighed, "With the level my control is over memories, I am very concerned."
"Well, knowing what I have to do is something I don't have to worry about now." Luke smiled, "The past is the past, no matter what it is."
"The past could impact the future, on a grand scale in this case." Uxie nodded.
"One way or another, the future is ours." Luke pumped his arm, "Hey, that's a cool motto!"
"I've heard worse from you." "Uxie nodded, "Well, let's go back now. You'd best be rested enough to at least stay awake."
Luke went home and slept hard and undisturbed that night.
He woke up on his own twenty minutes before he needed to and carried on the time until he was at school early. He waited with his head on his arm while he sat waiting in the classroom.
Eventually, the seats around him started to fill up more and more rapidly until the teacher eventually came in. A Gardevoir came in instead of a Grotle to take the class on a trip.
After roll-call, the group headed out to walk closely together in the city to the museum. Luke ended up being on the outside of the circle just the tiniest bit away without anyone to talk to.
Just walking through the city and keeping up with his classmates felt like a chore until he noticed the museum. The building had a wide lawn with a few sculptures laid out on the paths towards the building.
The building overall was very wide, but looked like it only had two or three floors.
Eventually, their teacher stopped them just past the entrance and split them off into groups. Luke was paired with a noisy Squirtle named Sam and his friend, a Pikachu named Yasmin.
Luke followed them around pouting with his arms crossed. Although he gave a nod when they were paired, they clearly weren't interested in talking to him or about the museum.
The Buneary looked around occasionally wide-eyed. There were crowns from old villages in displays and paintings that related to the same time period. He looked around at signs curious for where the oldest section of the museum was.
By luck, the two pokemon progressed towards where Luke wanted to go. When they reached the room, it mostly had displays along with a few paintings that were guesses for what the past was like.
Luke didn't notice anything of particular interest until he saw a stone slab as the main display. It had a symbol etched into it that he easily recognized as a Magnagate.
"I wonder where that could lead... It's not really worth drawing attention to find out, though."
The Buneary walked close to the slab tempted to touch the glass over it on the wall.
"Would you all like a tour?" a voice offered.
The Buneary turned with his ears and eyes opening as much as possible. A Riolu smiled with his fingers touching the ends of each other in front of him.
"They're not interested in that sort of thing." Luke spoke up, "You ought to show me around instead."
"Yeah, thanks." the Squirtle rubbed the back of his head, "Let's go check out the statues, Yasmin."
"I didn't think he was a history nerd..." the Pikachu whispered.
The Riolu kept his eyes on the Squirtle and Pikachu until they had turned down the lonely hallway still talking loudly.
"I can't help but notice that you're intrigued by that over there." the Riolu turned, "It's only natural, of course."
"Who exactly are you?" Luke asked quietly.
The Riolu shrugged passively and walked up next to the Buneary staring at the stone.
"I can read Magnagates, you know. The key is in the patterns, they all have a meaning like letters and spell out a word." the Riolu explained, "You know how to do it too, you just have to remember."
"And what exactly are your memories like?" Luke asked.
"A little fuzzy. Like looking through ice." the Riolu replied, "I remember all of the facts, at least."
"Sharing is caring, you know." Luke whispered.
"We were partners." the Riolu said, "Because we both have the same thing. But then you betrayed me."
The Buneary looked to his right and simply glared at the Riolu.
"Look, I'm not tryin to call random pokemon liars," the Buneary frowned, "But-"
"You betrayed me because you stayed true to some questionable morals..." the Riolu answered, "We were soldiers."
"None of that even rings a bell." Luke said, "Also, I'm pretty sure being a soldier at my age is illegal."
"Arc blessing will bring all of that back when you master it." the Riolu said, "And when you remember what you did to me, then I'll be waiting for your apology."
"Do you think I'll apologize?" Luke asked.
"Someone will." the Riolu nodded, "Someone. I'll be keeping around you, Luke."
"Isn't that stalking?" Luke asked.
"Yes, Luke. It is stalking." the Riolu nodded, "Alright, see ya."
"Wait, did I see you before?" Luke asked as the Riolu turned around, "Just as I woke up from wherever I was, I saw a Riolu."
"This is the first time I've found you." the Riolu nodded, "But you better be careful of that pokemon. We all should."
The Buneary watched the Riolu walk out of the room calmly.
"They definitely are different pokemon... I can't explain it, but I just like him. Hm. Partners. Soldiers."
The Buneary stared back at the large stone slab and Magnagate etched into it.
"Soldier. Luke."
The Buneary held a hand to his head feeling slight pain.
"Slowly. I'll get this."
