Twinleaf Town was empty. This was something Akari didn't find all that disturbing. No. Everything was where it was supposed to be, wasn't it? Barry had left with Chimchar and Lucas had gone off to help Professor Rowan. Or was it Rei? No, she had the names switched. Rei was helping Professor Kamado. That had to be it.

She found herself leaning against a tree in a strange dress, watching as a flock of Starlys took flight into a pitch black sky. Lake Verity oozed from the depths of the void, spilling into the empty lakebed where it should be… used to be?

"Has always been," came a drawling voice. It was monotonous and cold, settling deeply into her bones. Familiar and foreboding. "Will always be."

"Hello?" Akari called, moving to stand in the middle of the path. She moved to raise her hand but stopped, noticing how wet her sleeves were. "Huh?" Akari lifted her arms, pinching the thick cushy sleeves of her tunic between her fingers. They were sticky with something. "Oh. Gross."

"Welcome home, Lost One," the voice growled. "I've been waiting for you for a long, long time."

"Home," Akari echoed in the same flat tone as the beast. She stared at the empty homes behind her with their pitch black windows and (missing) non-existent doors. "This is home. This is my home."

"You are home," the disembodied voice corrected her. "It's been so long since I've spoken with you, Lost One. Such a long time since we last had a chat."

A beast Akari couldn't even begin to describe descended from the black and now blood-red sky, its hundreds of faces eyes staring straight through her. It curled around the trees and houses, crushing them like grass underfoot as it circled around her.

Akari felt (nauseous) good. She felt (horrified) excited. This was familiar. This was something she had experienced before. Akari reached out a hand to touch the creature. An unspeakable amount of (tendrils) arms reached out to embrace her-

Akari woke sweating, grasping at the thin blankets atop her. All she could hear was her own pulse blasting against the inside of her skull. She was clammy and she was burning up. She tossed back the blankets, blinking at the pitch black sky outside her room tent.

It was nighttime. Or was it really? Crickets chirped loudly amongst the thick white fog that curled around the tent city like grasping arms. Rain pelted the muddy ground, Akari wincing as her bare feet sank into the earth. Shoes. She'd forgotten to put her shoes on. When had she gotten outside?

She turned to head back into the tent, pausing at the sight of empty cots. So many of them. More than should be able to fit inside a tent so small. As she returned to her own cot, the tent lengthened and distorted, the walls twisting upwards so that her cot was now on the ceiling. Of course. Of course that would happen. That always happened.

Her shoes dropped from the ceiling and Akari grabbed them and put them on. Couldn't just leave for the (night) day without putting on her shoes. She didn't bother to clean the mud off of her feet or change her (bloodied) soaked shirt. She needed to find her mother. Her mother?

She quickly exited the tent, arriving onto a deserted street. Street? Was she supposed to be on a street? Houses and tents and statues and trees thronged the sides of the road, a thick and (insidious) calming fog swirling around the structures. It was so cold. Too cold.

"Dawn!"

Akari snapped around, glimpsing a leg disappearing at the other end of the street. She darted across, reaching for empty air as the figure rounded the corner. She began sprinting, watching in dismay as (the figure) her mother disappeared around yet another corner. Her mother sure was fast! Was it just her or were people never supposed to be able to walk that fast? Did her mother always have more than six legs?

"An illusion." The voice boomed through the streets, freezing Akari in place as the fog cleared up. The figure before her paused, all ten of its legs folding upon one another until (the thing) her mother dissolved into the pavement. The voice continued. "Come talk with me, Lost One." The creature slithered over the pavement behind her, dragging along pebbles and stones and (debris) leaves as it went. "Turn around. It's okay. You can gaze upon me. Look at me. Turn around and look at me. Turn around, Lost One."

So Akari did as it asked. She turned around-

Akari woke sweating, grasping at the thin blankets atop her. All she could hear was her own pulse blasting against the inside of her skull. She was clammy and she was burning up.

A cool hand settled atop her forehead, something cold dripping down her cheek and onto her pillow. She felt hot. Too hot. Her hands were numb and she could not move very much apart from forcing her eyes open.

"Still feverish."

"For how long?"

"It'll wear off eventually."

"Not fatal then?"

"I hope not."

Akari groaned and turned over, her limbs as heavy as stone and her head stuffed with cotton. The cool hand returned to her a cheek, a pair of pale blue eyes meeting hers. The figure tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and shushed her feverish whimpers, gently bringing the blankets around her chin again.

"Sleep, Lost One. All will be well soon."

Akari shuddered awake, biting her lip as the bite of the cold settled into her skin. A nightmare. She shook her head and slowly edged out of her cot. Ever since she'd recovered from her paralysis, she'd been having these horrible nightmares. Dreams within dreams within dreams, all of them making little to no sense. All of them fading like mist in the sunlight upon waking. And when she woke, she would feel bone tired.

She moved to get dressed, slowly sliding on her tunic and bags. Today, she was to journey with the clansmen to gather as much stuff as they could from the Diamond Settlement. After the terrible landslide at the original camp, she'd been forced to help move camp to Cloudpool Ridge which was much safer than the stone hollow the camp was in before.

"Akari, are you ready in there?" came Rei's voice. "Shige says we're leaving! Like, right now!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Akari yelled back. She rubbed at her eyes, moving to gather her messy tangled hair in her hands. What she wouldn't give to stay in bed just a little bit longer. She gathered her things, met Rei outside, and left with the rest of the patrol.

Warden Ingo had succeeded in calming Lady Lilligant. Again, another rub of salt in the wound for Akari. Some Chosen One she was when she was now zero for three for calming nobles. But Warden Ingo was no longer in the Crimson Mirelands. No, her 'savior' was off tending to his own charge, leaving Akari to do meaningless busywork to help rebuild the camp.

"Akari, are you even listening to me?" Rei moved so that he was now obscuring her view, Tot fast asleep on the boy's shoulder. He looked worried, his eyebrows furrowed. "You're not. You're still half asleep."

"I'm awake," she argued, picking up her pace.

"You look half dead," Rei snarked. "Fine. I guess I'll repeat myself for the hundredth time this morning. Let's review. Warden Calaba is missing and Lord Ursaluna is now frenzied."

"Frenzied?" Akari whipped around, fists balled at her side. When had this happened?

At the head of the group, a man just a year or two older than her turned to glare at her, shaking his head with exasperation. "I thought I told you to leave her be, Rei. Lise told you that Akari is still shaky from the paralysis. Lay off."

"I wasn't even doing anything, Shige!" Rei retorted.

"Lord Ursaluna is frenzied?" Akari asked. She still couldn't remember how long she'd been out for.

"Sure is," Shige droned. He kept a firm hand on the saber at his side. "We-" he gestured sarcastically at the large group of rangers around them- "are going on a patrol." The man turned to face forward, adding in a low enough voice that Akari could hear, "Man, why'd we have to take the catatonic one along?"

"I can go back to camp then," Akari growled. "I don't even remember agreeing to this in the first place."

"That's because you were out cold," Shige retorted. "You don't have a choice anyhow. You have to pay back all that time you spent eating our food and using our firewood to keep warm."

"I don't remember that either!"

"You were asleep!"

"That's enough!" A rough hand came down on Shige's shoulder and forcefully yanked him back, a pair of hard brown eyes landing on her. "Shige, don't be rude to our guest." He gave her an apologetic grimace but the way he sucked his breath through his teeth suggested that the man wanted to voice the same opinion.

"Right…"

Rei came up alongside her, not quite meeting her eyes. "Do you need a refresher?" he asked quietly. "I wouldn't mind."

"Thank you Rei," Akari murmured. She couldn't ever remember Rei being this soft with her before. "Can you explain where-" she paused, scratching her head- "what's going on here? I actually am still shaky from my paralysis. Sorry."

Rei nodded. "No need to apologize. Wasn't your fault. Let me test your memory first. Do you remember when you fought that giant Parasect?"

"Yeah. I do." She blinked, remembering the last move the Parasect had fired off. The spores- she slapped her head, groaning as she remembered the slow descent into becoming paralyzed. The countless days stuck in the healer's tent forced to eat mashed-up grains or berries. How had she forgotten about that?

"Lise said he had to feed you a mix of medicinal stuff to keep you asleep," Rei continued. "He said something about your muscles seizing up continuously and that keeping you asleep lessened your pain."

"I don't-"

"Of course you don't," Rei cut in rudely. "It took us nearly a month to find the medicine to treat your paralysis. You were asleep for almost the whole time! I don't expect you to remember much after that."

"The medicine?" Akari yawned. "What medicine?"

"Yeah, Mister Volo looked all over Hisui looking for the right herbs to cure you. He said he had to pay a lot of money to get them! Without them, you'd probably still be paralyzed."

Now that got Akari's attention. "Mister Volo got me my cure? Really?"

"Yeah," Rei nodded. "I still have no idea how he managed to get his hands on those herbs. There was only enough for one person and he insisted that he'd gotten them for you. And you are Arceus' Chosen, after all. Makes sense."

Rei is speaking far too loudly for this to be a private conversation, Akari thought. Shige turned around at his last comment and sent him a cold glare before stalking away.

"Whoops," was all Rei stuttered out after.

Rei had given her even more context the longer the group walked along the mountains. Akari had been the first and only person to receive treatment for her paralysis. Everybody else who had suffered the same fate was still in their cots. Cots that she remembered were empty when she had left that morning. Rei had been taking her for "walks" to help get her back to working order on Lise's behalf. The results were inconclusive.

Rei had also told her that she had been out of it since recovering five days ago. She was actually getting better from the sounds of. Withdrawal from the strong stuff in that potion, or whatnot.

Rei had also taken care to mention to her what exactly they were doing as they walked. The day before (apparently she couldn't remember that either), she had agreed to be part of a search party for two missing clan rangers. One of them was Akanti and the other was Warden Calaba. Both disappeared the night Warden Ingo went to calm Lady Lilligant. Both had been missing for over a week.

The group soon emerged at the base of the stone hollow where the Diamond Clan originally settled. Now, it was just a mess of torn-up trees and destroyed huts. Mud squelched under her boots as the group spread out to check the huts. For bodies, Shige had declared, his ground working on tearing apart the thin canvas tarps. If they found any bodies, Akari didn't hear. She was too focused on the sounds of snuffling at the edge of the clearing.

Akari crept closer, eyes focused on the swatch of white and pink fabric poking out of a bush. It was almost too faint to be heard correctly: faint wheezing. "Something's over here!" she called over her shoulder, hurrying over to the injured person.

Shige rushed to overtake her, his scowl turning into relief as he hacked apart the bushes, heaving something into his arms. "Warden Calaba!" He gently moved the much older lady to his side, frowning as the warden crumbled like wet paper in his hold. "Something's wrong," Shige muttered. He checked her pulse and frowned deeper. "We need to get back to camp immediately-"

"Nobody move."

Rei froze, his eyes focused on a point just behind the bushes where Shige had pulled Calaba from. The loud snuffling Akari had heard earlier intensified, stopping just a pace away from the flattened grass imprint. She had forgotten about that! It growled and rose up to emerge from the darkness of the treeline, claws flashing.

Enveloped in a golden hue, it lumbered above the group and snarled in the way a cornered animal wood. It slammed back into the ground hard enough to knock Akari off of her feet and parted its jaws in a terrifying roar. Lord Ursaluna.

"Everybody, scatter!" Shige screeched.

"Rose!" Akari immediately called forth her Rapidash and scrambled to get Rei and Calaba on its back, kicking the sides of her partner to get away from the settlement as fast as possible. She was in no state to battle. Rose whinied and bucked, her hooves sinking into the mud as it cantered away from the scene.

Akari hardened her grip on Rei's tunic and ignored the yells ringing from the clearing. She spurned Rose onward, hoping that she could remember the way back to Cloudpool Ridge. She tightened her grip around the older warden and rode harder, Rei's words getting lost in the driving rain.

They'd been the first to get back. Upon seeing Calaba unconscious upon Rose's back, the Diamond Clan rangers scrambled to get her down and rush her into Lise's tent with Rei's warden had been paralyzed. No scratch or bite marks. Just paralyzed. But then, what had paralyzed her? Not Lord Ursaluna, surely.

"Ah, you're awake."

Akari turned to see a familiar blonde struggling through the mud to get to her. "Mister Volo."

"How many times must I tell you to quit with the formalities-"

He paused when Akari flew forward and embraced him in a hug. She didn't even care that all the rain water from his poncho was now soaking into her tunic. "Rei told me that you found the herbs to cure me. I-" she paused and retreated, not quite sure of what to do with her hands or the flushed look on her savior's face- "thank you."

Volo scoffed and pointedly looked away, pulling the hood of his poncho tighter. "The pleasure's all mine. What would I do without my favorite customer?"

"Become poorer, I think."

"So now I'm poor, huh? That's low."

Akari laughed. "It really is good to see you, Volo. I don't think I'm even relatively close to getting back to speed on what's going on here."

"Yes, well, being asleep for almost a month will do that to the mind," the merchant joked. "And in case you're wondering, I'm here delivering more herbs to the Diamond Clan. Haven't been able to find any more paralytic medicines but- well- we'll keep trying!" He glanced around before bending to whisper, "And I managed to obtain another plate while you were out, too."

Volo had obtained the Meadow Plate from Warden Ingo after the fight was done and over. Now, they had three plates in all. They had so many more plates to obtain.

"So the plates are definitely connected to the nobles," Akari started, "but it's their wardens who possess them. Makes sense that if you have bits of yourself scattered around the mortal world, you'd entrust them with the strongest pokémon."

"Correct! And if I'm not mistaken, I might know the location of the Earth Plate. The one that belongs to Lord Ursaluna."

Akari casted a glance at the healer's tent. "Warden Calaba might know where it is. But she can't hand it over to us. She's paralyzed." Akari thought Volo looked a bit too smug and turned to face him, her arms crossed. "Well? What do you know?"

"If I'm correct, we won't need to even calm Lord Ursaluna to get it. It might just be at Calaba's Hideout."

"Hideout?"

"The Pearl Clan has a settlement here in the Dronning Meadows. No doubt, that's where the plate is. If we can secure that plate, we can move on to the other nobles. Maybe even get the plates before they become frenzied. We'd be on the fast track of summoning Arceus. Wouldn't that be neat?"

Akari squinted at the man, not sure as to whether he was brilliant or just comically insane. "Are you saying we should break into a feeble old lady's house and steal a plate to summon god more efficiently?"

"Not stealing, per say," Volo hummed. "More like, borrowed. You want to speak to Arceus, don't you?"

"I do," Akari nodded fiercely. "We both want the same thing; answers. I'd do anything to get my memories back."

"Anything at all, hmm? Then I'm sure old Calaba won't mind if we put that plate to use."

"When do we go?" Akari asked.

"Tomorrow morning, just before dawn. You can just tell the guards that you're accompanying me to the second check in the route for merchants. I need a strapping young hero to protect me and my wares," Volo fanned himself. "A good protector. And who better than you?"

"Who better than me?" echoed Akari smugly. "You need a teenager to protect you. How sad."

It was raining when they set off. Akari had been sure to bring extra boots and a bedroll in case they had to take a break during the trek. The guards hadn't questioned them much when they set off apart from telling them to take extra care and watch their footing.

Now that the curtain of spores covering everything had gone, all Akari had to worry about were the new monstrous landslides that were prominent due to Lord Ursaluna being frenzied. Volo had warned her about the multiple sinkholes dotting the bogs. If they weren't careful, they would fall right into one. So naturally, Akari let Volo take the lead.

"How are we going to steal this plate, exactly?" Akari asked after a while as they approached a massive sinkhole. So large that Akari was having trouble seeing the bottom.

"I've delivered herbs to Warden Calaba before. She has her own tent a ways away from the Dronning Encampment. Far enough that nobody will know we're there. That's if we're being quiet."

"That's all fine and dandy but these tents have doors, Volo. What's the plan?"

Volo flashed her a coy grin. "I know how to pick locked doors. A handy trick I learned in my younger days. Came in handy when-" he stopped himself, his eyes alight with mirth. He cleared his throat and faced forward to stare across the wetlands- "you don't need to hear the rest of that."

"Don't tell me you were a thief."

"I wasn't!" Volo swore. "Honest!"

They had been walking for most of the day when both of them decided to stop and take a break, Akari perching herself on a fallen tree. The sun was now sinking towards the horizon. When they set off the next time, Akari could've sworn she felt eyes burning into her back. She whipped around.

A pair of frightened eyes peered back at her before vanishing into the shadows of the tall grass. A wild pokémon? She called forward her trusty steed. "Rose, burn through the grass and take care of that interloper."

Rapidash did as it was told. It reared and stomped at the ground, its fiery mane expanding to set the grass alight.

A loud shout echoed in the air. "Stop! Stop! It's me! It's Rei! Stop! I'm burning!"

Volo stared dumbfounded at the scorched earth and blazing grass and then at Akari. He fixed his expression into an annoyed frown and they both watched as Rei slowly crawled out of the tall grass. The skin of his hands and chin were slightly burned but his clothes seemed to get the worst of the blast.

Akari was the first to react. "Rei, what in the name of Ar- Almighty Sinnoh are you doing here? Did you follow us?" she hissed.

"Maybe," the boy swallowed thickly. He winced as he let his arms relax by his sides. "I heard you two plotting yesterday. You're really going to break into Warden Calaba's tent?"

"Do you regularly eavesdrop on people?" Volo interrupted. His tone held none of the softness that Akari regularly heard in his tone. It was sour and bitter and harsh. His narrowed eyes were hidden partially by the shade of his brimmed hat and they seemed to glow. "This is a private matter."

"Not when Warden Calaba is paralyzed." Rei turned to Akari. "You brought her back to camp. Why're you breaking into her house? For a plate? What plate?"

"Rei, it's fine," Akari tried. She shared a knowing glance with Volo. They needed to get him out of there so they could continue. Distract him. The last thing they needed was a nosy tag-along. "We just need to borrow it for something."

"You can't just wait to ask her?"

"No," Volo sighed. "This is more important."

"Important enough for a Gingko Guild Merchant to be lurking around like a Zoroark?" Rei challenged. He turned to Akari. "Surely you realize this is wrong, right? It's just a plate, right? We have-"

"It's none of your business, Rei," Akari retorted with a bit more venom. "If we wanted you to know, we would've told you. We didn't. It's just a plate and we're gonna return it. That's all you need to know about it."

"Why are you acting so cagey? What do you need it for?"

"Huh?"

Rei swallowed. "What do you need this plate for?" he asked again. "I know it's not a regular old wooden plate. Warden Mai told me about the plates when she came to the new camp a week or two ago. I saw them when Lise asked me to do something about your bag. The ones with the strange inscriptions on them. Those plates. Why are you collecting them?"

"Because Almighty Sinnoh asked her to," Volo responded. "You didn't seem to have a problem with Warden Ingo bringing in the Old Verses."

"That's because Warden Ingo never stole them. And I wasn't asking you, Volo. I was asking Akari."

Akari felt her hands ball into fists. "It's none of your damn business, Rei. I was chosen by Almighty Sinnoh. They want me to collect the plates. That's it. That's the end of the story. Case closed."

"You're lying." Rei gave her a terrible but weak smile. His eyes glistened with an unknown emotion and he took a step forward. "You know that I have a Mr. Mime, right? I told you about Belle, didn't I?"

"Rei, I don't care." Akari was starting to get tired of Rei's nonsense. "Can you please just leave us alone?"

"You should care," Rei piped up. "While you were asleep, Belle tried to wake you up using Psychic. She saw-" Rei paused, taking a step back- "you- you lied about Oshawott. Belle showed me what you did." He turned to Volo. "Did you know? Did you know what she did?"

"Of course, I knew," Volo grunted. "It was grisly, that." He turned to Akari. "Should've had Rose burn the area to get rid of the blood."

Rei recoiled as though he'd been punched. All of the bravado he'd had with him had oozed away leaving him burned and shivering as the rain intensified. "Akari, this isn't right. What you're doing. What you did-"

"I don't care, Rei." Akari took a step forward. Rei took a step back. Was he afraid of her? Good. "We need those plates, and we'll steal them if we have to."

"Just so you can talk to Almighty Sinnoh? Why? Can't you just use your tablet?"

"That doesn't work," Akari retorted hotly. "I want to see it. To hear it. For it to answer me. I want my memories back. I want to go home." Lightning had struck on her last word. "I want justice."

"You're crazy," Rei whispered. He dared to glance behind him. "I'm getting out of here."

"No, you're not." Volo unlatched a pokéball at his waist, a flower pokémon appearing at his side. "You know too much and we can't have you opening your mouth and mucking up our plans."

"Mucking up-" Rei started- "what are you even talking about? Akari, are you even hearing this? This isn't right. You wouldn't-"

"Roselia, Poison Powder."

The flower pokémon gave a faint chirp and brought forth a cloud of sticky particles from the ground, covering Rei head to toe with the stuff in the blink of an eye. Rei didn't even have a chance to cover his nose or mouth. He gagged, pulling his waterskin from his side in attempts to waterlog the spores.

"Poison?" Akari muttered. "Are you trying to kill him or something?"

"It will keep him asleep or feverish at most," Volo explained. "Long enough so he can't tell anybody in the Galaxy Team or clans what we're planning. Maybe he'll even forget about it if we keep him under long enough."

"He says it like it's a bad thing." She watched as Rei eventually crumpled to the ground, eyes glossy and skin pale. His breaths had become labored.

Had Volo always been this devious? Was she becoming a willing accomplice to murder? No, she shook her head. They were just poisoning Rei. Not killing him. And besides, Volo was right.

Meeting Arceus and forcing it to answer her might lead to her being able to force it to take her back home. Her real home. Rei didn't matter to her. Not really. Volo had been her greatest ally since she'd arrived here. She trusted him to lead her in the right direction.

And who cared if she murdered Oshawott? He's just a pokémon. A baby pokémon at that. Nobody's noble. What would happen? Professor Laventon might be angry at her but that didn't matter. What mattered now was getting that plate and keeping Rei out of the way.