After leaving Hop to be with his brother, Kevin floated up to his mother's house. Kevin greeted the Roselia sleeping nearby before opening the door.

As expected, his mother was waiting for him.

"Kevin! You're back safe!" she said as she hugged Kevin, unaware of him squirming under it. When she eventually finished the hug, Kevin used the opportunity to hand his mother a doodle. It was an important doodle because he had felt it perfectly encapsulated his feelings about him going off on a journey. The doodle depicted a drawing of a house, with him floating away from it. Beside the house was his mother, who was watching him with tears in her eyes. Very quickly, his mother mirrored her doodle counterpart.

"I know sweetie, but I'll miss you! It's a perfect card, you know…"

Kevin nodded, then pulled out yet another card. This time, it was of him and his mother, cuddling each other against a heart backdrop.

"I love you too Kevin. Before you head off on your Pokemon Journey though, I've packed everything you need for the budding Pokemon trainer!"

Immediately, Kevin felt himself be smothered by stuff. He knew it. He knew that one day, he will die once again. Never did he consider however that his second death would involve being smothered under never-ending supplies of medicine, clothes that he didn't need ("Just in case!"), lots of cash, Pokeballs, and several bags of food for the road. Thankfully, the stream of items eventually ceased, allowing him the opportunity to put everything into his bag. He was thankful that it was one of the latest bags from Macro Cosmos, which used Pokeball technology to create literally bottomless bags.

"….Now I want you to call every evening or I will show up and take you back home. Also, try to keep yourself safe. I'll go mental if anyone lays a hand on you. Also…" she turned to the Drifloon floating next to Kevin.

"I want you to take care of Kevin for me. Don't let him wander off and get eaten alive or I'll never let you hear the end of it!"

Loneliness nodded in response.

Goodbyes now said Kevin and Loneliness prepared to leave once again. Before he left, however, he went back and hugged his mother once again. He could feel tears falling under his eyes, but he ignored them. After all, it would be the last time in a while that he would physically see his mother again. After pulling away from the hug, he started to move away from his house. As he waved goodbye to his mother, she called out to him a final time.

"Love you too, Son."

He grinned. At least this departure would not occur on words of regret.

Soon, Kevin and Loneliness had returned to the train station, hoping to get the next ticket out of here. They were impeded however by a flock of people who had appeared at the front of the train station.

I guess that Leon hadn't gotten very far from the train station yet. thought Kevin as he spotted Leon, posing with his Charizard whilst signing autographs for a group of youngsters. Beside him was Hop, who seemed enamored at the crowd of people that his brother had attracted.

Kevin and Loneliness soared above the crowd of people before coming to rest beside the Champion. It was an act that had been noticed by Mateo, Leon's Charizard, although Leon was too distracted to notice.

"Hey, squirt." He said, greeting the Phantump with a fistbump. "I hear that you got an endorsement from the Professor."

"That would be correct." Replied the Phantump.

"Well, I hope you get strong enough to challenge me and my trainer someday. Who knows, maybe one day, we'll actually have a Champion with a sense of direction!"

"I hope so, too, Mateo."

"I also see that you got a little partner here." Replied the Charizard, trying to greet the fellow Drifloon the same way. He did not get a response however as the Drifloon simply whimpered and positioned himself so that he was behind Kevin.

"Yeah, he's a little shy. We're looking for his family, you see." Said Kevin, trying to soothe the Drifloon. "We're not having much luck though…"

"Well, I hope you do so."

"Ah, Kevin," said Leon, having finally finished signing autographs for the time being. "I hear you're going on a Pokemon journey. It's a pity I didn't see you and Hop fight, but it must have been a good fight, so I trust Magnolia's word on this occasion."

Behind Leon, Kevin could see Hop with a relieved look on his face.

Kevin then took out his phone, then pointed to it.

"Oh, you need the Pokedex upgrade to your phone…I think?"

Kevin nodded in response.

"Well then, you should head off and get it upgraded. I'll come with you, seeing as it's been a while since I've seen Sonia."

The first thing that came to Kevin's mind when they went into the Pokemon Research Lab was how…academic the place looked. Everywhere he could see, there were books.

Well, considering the fact that Sonia is Magnolia's granddaughter, one supposes that it's only natural that she has so many books.

Speaking of Sonia, Kevin found her walking down the stairs. Her hair was done up neatly in a ponytail and she had lovely glasses on that hair. She wore a brown jacket on her, which was complemented by lovely blue tights. It was certainly a pretty outfit for the granddaughter of the regional professor. With her was a yellow, dog-like Pokemon, who immediately bounded up to them.

"Hi, howasyourday. Mydayisgreat. NamesYapperAndILoveCuddlesAnd…"

Soon, Yapper was distracted by something and started running off towards it, although what, Kevin didn't know.

"I see you've met Yapper, my Yamper." Said Sonia, noticing the high energy of her Pokemon. She turned to Leon.

"What is it now, Leon. Got another cool Pokemon you want me to look for." She asked.

"Oh, no. See, we have here our two…irregular contestants." He replied, pointing to Hop and Kevin. This cause Kevin to shudder a little. That term felt…unpleasant, although why he couldn't point his stubby arm on.

"I say, they definitely look energetic. Anyway, name's Sonia. I'm the Professor's assistant." She replied, greeting the two with a handshake.

"Anyway, our two contestants are here to get their phones upgraded." Replied Leon.

"Do they now. Well, I suppose I should get this sorted then." Sonia threw out two Pokeballs, which contained two Rotom. They said nothing as they hung in the air.

"Rotom, install yourselves into those phones." She commanded.

In response, the duo turned into flickers of light. Then, they entered both Kevin and Hop's phones. The phones glowed for a minute, then displayed Rotom-like faces.

"Bzzzztttt! Nice to meet you! My name is Rotom-Phone! My intended purpose is to allow you to record data of fellow Pokemon and send it off. Also included are maps and navigation tools for those who have the navigation abilities of a Spinda."

"Nifty things, aren't they," said Sonia. "Anyway, Leon has told me that Gran has already given you the needed endorsement. I hope you have a good time! Just be sure to beat my former rival for me."

"I HEARD THAT!"

Sonia ignored Leon. "Anyway, I'm rooting for you. It would be certainly an interesting change of events."

Kevin and Hop nodded, then left the building.

Despite Hop's hopes, Leon had decided not to come with them, hoping to have a night out with the rest of his family. Whilst Sonia was helping Leon to make it to the family home, they headed off to the train station, although Kevin knew from the disappointed expression on his face that this was not a good turn of events for Hop.

This soon changed however the moment they got on the train.

"This is pretty cool!" commented Hop, eating from a train-bought bowl of food like a ravenous Zorua. "You know, I've never been on a train before!"

"Really?" asked Kevin.

"Nah, we usually use Corvisquire Taxi. I'm good friends with the guy. He has a wife and kids back home."

Kevin grunted in affirmation as he went back to simply staring out of the window. Loneliness had been doing the same beforehand. It did break his heart, seeing Loneliness be so quiet. Hopefully, they would find his family soon. Several moments of peacefully watching the passing blur of the Galarian countryside came and went. Then…

"You know, I can't wait to go to the Wild Area," said Hop.

"The Wild Area?" inquired Kevin. It sounded familiar, but it was merely on the tip of his tongue, not out there.

"You never heard about it. I'm slightly disappointed in you, Kevin. Anyway, Motostoke is surrounded by this place. It's a real sight, with Pokemon just casually wandering about everywhere you look and you can go camping!"

"That sounds pretty cool." Said Kevin, an idea slowly forming in his head. He wondered whether anyone there knew where Loneliness' herd is.

Soon, however, the train came to a screeching halt.

"What now?" asked Hop, noticing that they didn't seem to be anywhere near Motostoke. On the contrary, they were smack-dab in the middle of the Wild Area.

Just as he had said that a young woman entered the train carriage, evidently embarrassed by some mysterious turn of events.

"Apologies for the delay, but a flock of Wooloo is blocking the tracks. We'll try to remove as many of them as possible, but for now, the train is halted."

Despite this, however, Hop looked pleased with this development.

"What is there to be sorry about? This is much better than Motostoke. I can use the opportunity to put together the greatest team!"

And with that, he was gone, turning into a blur as he left the train and its train station. Kevin sighed.

Well, this does at least allow me to check out the Wild Area…

Well, Hop was certainly right. Thought Kevin as he gazed out into the endless expanse that was the Wild Area. Motostoke seemed like a good distance from there, and there was a huge lake in the middle. All in front of him, he could see herds of Pokemon, casually moving about and socializing with each other. A flock of Pelipper flew across the sky, whilst a herd of Liepards nuzzled and slept together nearby.

It was a beautiful place, Kevin knew. But first, he had to find that Drifloon herd.

"Hey, Rotom-Phone." He asked the Rotom phone. "Do you know where I'm most likely to find Ghost-types here?"

"Bzzztttt! In the Wild Area, Ghost-types are most likely to be found in the Watchtower Ruins. It is commonly theorized that it was an old settlement that was destroyed in the Darkest Day, with the tower itself being the only remainder of this settlement. As such, Ghost-types tend to congregate around it."

"Interesting.." said Kevin.

"You are also likely to find Ghost-types right where we're standing. Bzzzttt!"

"Hah-hah, very funny!" Said Kevin, returning the Pokedex to his bag.

The tower itself wasn't too far away from their location. It was difficult to miss, considering how ominous and dark-colored it was. There was also a strange feeling coming from it, which to Kevin, felt like an overwhelming feeling of loss and sadness.

As he got closer, Kevin noticed that there was a giant golem-like creature protecting the tower. They kinda looked like a suit of armor, with a giant seal on its body.

As he went up to the Pokemon (a Golurk, if he recalled correctly), they looked down at him with a look that almost looked like pity.

"Hello, little ones. You must be wayward spirits, doomed to wander for all eternity in the mortal realm, never to find peace.

This confused Kevin. He was pretty sure he wasn't lost.

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm not doomed…I think."

"You may say that, but you are one of the children of the forest, destined to be raised by Ghost-types before going off to look after a forest."

"Yeah, but my history is different. I was raised by humans, you see."

This took the Golurk aback. "Well, this is most mysterious. It's…strange seeing Ghost-types raised by humans."

They turned to Loneliness.

"And you must be a soul balloon, powered by one of the ancient lost souls of the region.."

Loneliness nervously chuckled.

"I'm lost…but not in that way…"

", can you stop bugging them, Creator. If they don't want to stay with us, they don't want to stay with us."

Kevin turned his head to see behind the Golurk, confused as to the direction of this new voice. There, behind the Golurk, was a tinier version of them. Instead of a crack, they had a spiral on their chest, and they had less of the cannon look that Golurk had. Judging by the fact that their arms were crossed, they were not amused at this conversation.

"You sure, Clay," the Golurk asked, turning its head to look at the Golett.

"Yeah, I suspect the bag on his back should have confirmed it."

The Golurk frowned, then refocused their attention on Kevin.

"Fair enough. It would have been nice to have other members of our group. Come…"

The Golurk beckoned Kevin behind the tower. There as had been noted by the Rotom-phone, a small group of Ghost-types had communed around it. Spheroid-shaped Pokemon with gas emanating from their bodies were having some conversation that Kevin couldn't make out, a small wisp-like Pokemon was muttering to himself whilst staring at a strange-looking rune and a skull with a cloth wrapped around them was curled up sleeping on the ground. They seemed fairly happy, although Kevin couldn't quite shake off the feeling of sadness which permeated the area.

"See, we are all lost spirits in some way or another. We have lost our previous identities, so we stick together and form new ones."

It was certainly nice, but as far as Kevin could see, there was no Drifloon or Drifblim to be seen anywhere.

"Hey, um, did you see any Drifloon recently?"

The Golurk scratched their chin thoughtfully.

"There was a small group of them, but they left several hours ago."

Beside him, Kevin could see the poor Drifloon's hopes get wrecked once again.

"Ah, thank you. Listen, we need to get going. This poor Drifloon is looking for his group."

"Fair enough. If you do get lost, you know where to go…"

"I appreciate it, but not at the minute."

"I'm sorry we didn't find your herd today," said Kevin as he and Loneliness continued onwards out of the Wild Area. By this point, the sun had set, and Kevin was hoping to make it to Motostoke before it became too difficult to navigate the darkness.

"I suppose you're right…" muttered Loneliness. "…but thanks anyway…"

"Guys! Wait!"

Wait a minute…wasn't that…

Kevin turned in surprise. Behind him stood the Golett from before.

"Can I come with you?"

Kevin and Loneliness looked at each other.

"Ummm, sure. Why?"

"Well, I want to seek the world, you see. I've gotten bored living in this darn tower. I've been doing it for centuries! And my Creator won't let me leave. I appreciate what he's doing, but I need some independence as well."

"What do you think, Loneliness?" asked Kevin, turning to look at the Drifloon.

"I suppose so. It would boost our ranks. And it could make it easier to find my family."

"Fair enough. Shall we go?"

"Thank you so much." Replied the Golett, pulling out a Pokeball from Kevin's bag and activating the Pokeball. Very quickly, she was sent into the ball, which shook a couple of times before clicking.

Kevin grabbed the Pokeball, then released her from it. Immediately, she shook their hands.

"Hello, my name is Clay."

"Clay, huh. It's certainly an interesting name. Not as weird as Loneliness over there though. Name's Kevin."

"Kevin? That's an even weirder name. Now, who would call a Phantump "Kevin"?"

Kevin was not amused.

"Hey, Kevin is a great name!"

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that."

Kevin sighed and changed the subject. "Well, it's good to have you on board. That said, does your dad know you're here."

"Nope."

Oh, dear.

Oh, dear!

Indeed, his suspicions were confirmed when he heard a loud booming voice in the distance.

"CLAYYYYYY!"

"I think we should run." Said Loneliness as all three ran for their lives into the entrance to Motorstoke. As they ran, a thought came to Kevin.

This Golett was quite a character.