Mission Five: Dark

(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift."

-Mary Oliver, Thirst


Dark 5.1: Lorekeeper
Shirona

May 3, 2020

You do your best to ignore the hushed whispers and open stares from the other passengers on the plane. At least there are fewer of them in first class. You never get anything done at all in economy. Good for public appearances. Bad for resting and working on your flight. And you have work to do today.

You stare through your reading glasses at your tablet, trying to make sense of the thesis draft you were sent. It reads like it was written by a semi-literate secondary school dropout. Which, in fairness, it was. The text-to-speech often mangles the text with unrelated conversations, obviously wrong words, or long streams of incoherent letters. Probably from a pokémon speaking up.

Maybe a tenth of it is in Nahuatl for no apparent reason.

You've always disliked the thesis system for actively traveling trainers. Sinnoh instituted an alternative referral and badge system at your insistence. A good thesis is delightful, but it only really works for one of the two groups of trainers who need a Class V. Academics, breeders, and exhibitors can put together marvelous, thought-provoking treatises on their area of expertise.

Then there are trainers on the gym challenge, often children, with little in the way of a formal education. It frankly doesn't matter if they can advance scientific understanding. They don't have the time or support to write a good thesis on the fly. What's important is that they can properly care for and control their pokémon.

You've seen video of Cuicatl talking down a rampaging tyrantrum. From what you can glean from the thesis she earned the trust of a hydreigon. You've read the literature on them. Talked with a few other professional trainers. Pacifying a hydreigon is nearly impossible without a master ball plus and heavy 'conditioning' with control pokémon.

If she really understands how to interpret hydreigon behavior in such a way that a mutually beneficial partnership can be developed, that would frankly revolutionize the competitive pokémon scene. And the tidbits on dragon culture she's casually thrown in are the kind of thing that only a few isolated tribes really understand. The forest wanderers of Poland, the Draconids of Japan, a few monks in the Himalayas, the Haxorus People of New England, and, apparently, a random girl from Anahuac with no cultural obligation to keep her secrets. Unless there's something you don't know about the honor codes of Unovan royalty.

Chris Foster found the golden swanna and didn't give her the support to lay eggs. If he didn't have Victory at his side letting him fail ever upwards he would have wallowed in mediocrity forever. And he seems to be the only person who doesn't realize that.

Yes, mythology is one of your passions. You want to talk with Cuicatl about it for as long as she'll lend you her ear. Learn as much as you can. Maybe, years down the line, you can coauthor a book on it. But right now? None of this is usable. None of it builds to a central point. None of it will convince a council of professional trainers, breeders, and academics that she can be trusted with some of the most dangerous pokémon alive. Foster's company fundamentally misunderstood the assignment and offered her no meaningful support. Especially considering her impediment.

The correct way forward is to lean on the tyrantrum video and whatever she can put together about dragon taming. The trainers will vote for her if they're smart. The researchers will be trickier. You'll need to find a way to write a little that promises a lot in the future. Find a way to imply that if they let her care for the most monstrous pokémon alive she'll provide invaluable insight down the line. And, frankly, she'll need your endorsement. Probably Rory and Livs' as well.

The screen goes dark with the flick of the power button. You take your glasses off, rub your eyes, and sigh. You've got your work cut out for you. Especially with what Livs has told you…


It's wonderful to feel the sand around you after so long in the air. You fly much, much better than you used to, but it's always a little stressful being so far away from the ground.

Your Alolan home is much the same as when you left it. Good. Seems like Skull learned not to mess with your things after you left Reiko to stand watch when you left. That had been some hilarious security cam footage. Didn't even report them after. Figured they'd learned their lesson from the roserade better than they would from the police.

Oh? It seems like something found the pantry while you were out. Probably a rattata. You wonder if it chewed through anything to get in or just found a hole. You reach to your belt and send out half of your team.

Reiko stretches out her petals and looks up expectantly. Genkei glances around before standing at attention. Always so serious. Wouldn't hurt the lucario to loosen up from time to time. You've made progress on that, but he'll only relax when he's alone with you. Kagetora growls softly and tilts up his head. You give the garchomp her neck scratches before getting to work.

"We have guests coming in a few hours. Kagetora, can you fill the pool and then move pyukumuku?" You hold out Wakumi's pokéball to her as you ask. She takes it and lumbers off towards the pool. Pool opening is just hitting buttons. She can enter the passcode and hold down the level to fill it as long as she needs. Wakumi can purify it if it's gotten dirty. And Kagetora really loves pyukumuku tossing. Doesn't know that she's terrifying the pokémon she's helping.

"Genkei, can you dust and vacuum? Oh, and get Reiko a dustpan when you're in the closet. She can clean up the pantry."

Both nod. You're glad Reiko has something to do. She usually gets upset when she's left out because there's not much to be done at her size. "And Genkei? There's some food in the freezer if you need to thaw something."

He usually fasts for a few hours before and after travel, but you try to always give him the option of eating. Just in case he's changed his mind.

{Understood.}

"Mitsuru and I will be going to the village to get food. You want anything while we're there?"

{Fish.}

He probably means sushi. You'll get some of that. And maybe something fresh for Genkei and your guests later in the week. Mitsuru and Wakumi will be upset at real meat, but they've learned to look the other way when Kagetora chows down. Genkei prefers lab meat for everything but sushi. Something about the texture. Even if they can tolerate each other, half your team would mutiny if they caught you eating something that used to be sentient. Cooking it for guests is probably fine. Especially if they're actual children. You'll have to talk to them about it first.

It's still a bit of a pain that your biggest eaters are so opposed. Kagetora won't eat anything fake; it's an insult to her pride as a dragon. Wakumi takes a different view as a peacekeeper of the seas. Every week you have to get separate meals for both of them. It would be fine if the milotic wasn't so picky: artificial alomomola steaks are expensive and hard to source while you're traveling.

You step past the 'Warning: Dangerous Pokémon. Do Not Enter.' sign and enter the garage. Only after shutting the door and turning on the security shields do you unclip Solomon's master ball plus. You don't like using it. You keep the pacifying features disabled. You don't trust all of him enough to give up the option. It's possible to be kind to the point of recklessness. After typing in the code the ball's layers uncurl one by one before finally letting the spiritomb out in a pool of red light. He immediately sticks his 'head' out of the stone. It's a distorted, glitching parody of a human face with some features too large, some nonexistent, and glowing green light shining from the mouth, nostrils, and eyes. If he had ears they would probably be glowing as well. Pale purple fog spills out onto the ground around him.

"Greetings, Shirona," he says. His speech comes from all around the room in a chorus of dozens of voices, male and female alike. There's at least one that sounds like a young child.

Solomon won't talk about the child beyond acknowledging she exists. He almost sounded afraid of her when you asked.

"Good afternoon, Solomon."

It's best to let him guide the conversation. Trying to push too hard can send him into a mood. Even with a finger on the withdraw trigger it's not worth risking.

"How was the flight?" Small talk. Not common for him. It means he's in a good mood. Here's hoping he stays that way.

"It passed without incident."

He tilts his head. The eyes, nose, and mouth stay in place so they're slanted at an angle on the face. "I don't believe you've told me why we had to return to the islands with such haste."

And you weren't going to tell him. But it's not a good idea to lie to him. He's good at seeing through trickery and he will be very upset if you even try.

"You remember the girl I've taken an interest in?"

"Miss Ichtaca?"

"Yes, her. A friend of hers was assaulted by a few psychic types in an effort to change her sexual preferences. She was injured and needs time to recover. Since Miss Ichtaca will be taking a break from her travels, this seemed as good a time as any to work with her."

His head tilts back into place. "How curious. And Miss Ichtaca is psychic herself, is she not?"

"Yes." His eyes flicker with malice. Is he blaming her? Best nip that in the bud. "She wasn't the one who did it. From what I've heard she tried to stop it."

"I see." His eyes glow a little less intensely. "I would like to meet her. It has been some time since I encountered her bloodline. Eight hundred years ago in Korea, right when her ancestor first arrived."

You aren't sure it's a great idea to put a traumatized child in the same room as Solomon. He's usually fine. One-hundred-and-one out of one-hundred-and-eight times. The other seven don't take over often. But. They range from 'cruel' to 'murderously hostile to all life.'

"We'll see how she's doing." You leave 'and how you're doing' unspoken.

The fog coils closer to him.

"I can accept this."


Mitsuru lies in the bed of your rented pickup and babbles on about her day, the weather, who knows what, the entire way to Tapu Village. You do your best to keep the window down and say reassuring things every now and then. You've mostly learned her tone. Can figure out if she's talking about a good thing or a bad thing. She warbles back her thanks whenever you say the right thing. It's hard talking to her without Genkei or Solomon translating. You wish you were one of the elementals who can talk to pokémon. Instead, you can just sense the earth around you. Really useful for archaeology and bonding with ground-types. Only okay for everything else.

The town seems less busy than usual. You decide to ask the clerk about it as you check out.

"Blackout," she says. "Lot of people who stayed after the Tapu's wrath and the wormholes figured three strikes was enough."

Oh.

For a moment the gods of the Celestica tower before you, chained in translucent red. Chained in the blood of gods. Chained in emotion and memory and will. Chained by mortality. Unsure whether to feel despair or relief when the monstrous secret of your people answered your prayer.

You don't cast a shadow anymore.

Mitsuru's already left when you leave the store. Probably got bored and decided to fly back. Or explore. It's fine. There's very little on the island she couldn't kill if it came down to it.


You open the door to see Livs. The kids and Officer—Hmm. Not officer. And you don't know what title they prefer. You aren't sure if you've qualified for first name basis, but 'Lila' will have to do. Anyway, the kids and Lila are unloading a van in the driveway.

"Hey, Shirlee."

You roll your eyes. She knows you hate being called that.

She knows you don't mind it from her.

"Livs."

She smirks and for a moment you're both twenty-two and high off of oddish weeds in her attic while you talk about rocks. It's a shame she's tied down to Akala. You would have loved to be the one to sweep her off her feet and whisk her away.

Then she frowns and the moment ends.

"Be gentle on them, alright? Two of them have psychic damage. Other two are still hurt in their own ways."

"Two have damage?" They'd told you about Miss Gage. Who was the second?

She glances behind her and steps out of the doorway as the kids approach. She mouths out 'tell you later.'

You think.

Galarian is your third language.

The boy, Kekoa, is the first through the door. He has well-tanned skin, a smattering of acne, and probably had a buzzcut at one point before it grew out on the trail. He does his best to be neutral but there's an unnerved gleam in his eyes. It all looks a bit unfortunate on him.

In other words, he's a teenage boy.

He seems a little unsure of himself when he holds eye contact with you, fidgeting for a moment before settling on something to say. "Hey." And then he walks past you into the house.

A linguist for the ages.

"Hello yourself."

He just shrugs and sits down on the couch.

Cuicatl comes in next. She's slouching, one hand loosely draped on her metang's arm. The robot flips around so it can come in the door vertically. She walks past you. Probably didn't even notice you were there. The girl in the doorway coughs and Cuicatl whirls around. She almost trips over herself in the process.

"Hello, Miss Ichtaca."

Her eyes widen. She tries to bow and almost topples over from the weight of her backpack. "Hello, Dr. Karashina."

Not many people outside academia remember the doctorate. The trainer magazines usually omit it. Sinnish news is hit-or-miss. The public chooses to know you as Sinnoh's Black Lily. Thousands of people have doctorates. Only two trainers rank above you. That's what makes you special to them.

You aren't going to make a child call you that, though.

"Shirona is fine, dear."

You take a moment to evaluate her in person. She's smaller than you expected. Not in the height sense—you knew that before. She's just… diminished. Skin and bones with only the faintest hint of muscle tone under it all. And with a hand awkwardly clutching her other elbow she almost seems wounded. Is that what Livs meant? It's not unimaginable that she could have hurt herself trying to help her friend.

You'll need to call Goyou or Caitlyn and ask some questions.

"Did you bring your garchomp?" she asks in a hurried voice, the words almost colliding into each other in a verbal traffic jam. "I've always wanted to meet one. And um. I mean I also want to meet you, but."

You smile. It seems she has a little more life now. Almost a Presence. "She's on the beach." At least, she should be. "And my milotic is in the pool on the way out if you want to meet her."

"It's okay," someone says from outside. "I have Lila here."

Cuicatl takes a few big steps inside. Probably just realizes she was blocking up traffic. The last of your visitors step in. The white girl, Genesis, has really fair skin. Going to need to up your sunscreen purchases while she's here. Her cheeks are smattered with faint freckles. Her hair is almost the same shade as your own. Probably not because of elemental blood for her. Just her ethnicity.

Although her cousin is a flying bloodliner. You suppose one of her ancestors might've married a bloodliner for the prestige and abilities.

She freezes up as you analyze her. And stays frozen. No blinking. No microexpressions. No breathing. Then it ends and she takes a deep breath. She curtsies to you. "Genesis Gage. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Still using the last name, huh?" Kekoa asks from the couch.

"Lay off her," the final girl reprimands. "She's going through a lot."

Lyra Miura. Born Kotone Miura. The family name rang a bell so you did some digging. Turns out her family is with the Rockets. Most of her family. You glanced through the files on her brother's arrest, trial, and extradition. Still haven't made up your mind on if that was the system working as it should or being wildly corrupt. Or both.

"I agree that it's Miss Gage's decision to make."

He seems to shrink into himself at your rebuke.

Lyra bows to you. Pretty deeply. You return (not as deeply).

"Lyra Miura. It's an honor to meet you."

"Shirona Karashina. Likewise."

Lila Takeda steps in behind the girls and quietly closes the door.

"Well, the guest bedrooms are upstairs if you want to put your stuff away. There are four of them so you can each have one."

"Um," Genesis quietly interjects. "Actually, I wanted to ask if Cuicatl would stay with me for now. I need Noci around in case I wake up and freeze at night. And I don't want to take her from you so regularly."

Lyra tenses up and glowers. How curious. And this 'freezing?' Is that what you saw earlier? Some kind of lingering psychic damage?

Another question for Caitlyn.

{She's jealous,} Genkei tells you. {And the other two are romantically interested in one another, but unsure of how to approach it.}

He's been around humans for his entire life and he still doesn't quite have the concept of privacy down. You don't really care if they share a room. They're old enough to make their own choices. You consider quipping at them to use protection but decide against it. You don't need to disclose the things that Genkei tells you.

For some reason Cuicatl looks away. Her cheeks darken slightly.

Oh. Psychic. You're not the only one getting information others might want to keep private.

Lila seems as stoic as ever. Seems they didn't pick up on it.

"I think I can do that. But you can borrow Noci at night. I don't mind."

"Probably safer to have both of you there anyway."

Lyra's eye twitches but she doesn't speak up. Just storms off in silence with her bag.

The rest of the kids disperse shortly after. Kekoa and Genesis follow Lyra up alongside Cuicatl's metang, now levitating one of the bags beside them. Cuicatl sends out her tyrunt. She glances back at you and slowly approaches, neck tilted down and head up. Submission. You've seen young dragons do it to Kageetora. Rare to see the same courtesy extended to you. The tyrunt stops just out of arm's reach and looks up expectantly.

"I think your tyrunt wants something. Looking up at me with big eyes."

"Pets," Cuicatl answers. "Just hold an arm out. She probably won't bite."

Very reassuring. You pet her anyway, because you long ago accepted that's the kind of risk you're willing to take. The tyrunt presses her head against your side and purrs like a happy little buzzsaw.

"She's remarkably docile. I've met other tyrunt before and they… weren't like this."

"I hand-raised her. She can be a handful at times. And teething hurt. Still love her to bits."

At the mention of teething the tyrunt pulls back her lips and shows you her sharp rows of teeth. There's a bit of raw meat left on them. Must've eaten recently. No other discoloration. Probably eats a natural diet, then. Great for dragons, if a bit expensive. Her musculature isn't as impressive as you were expecting, aside from the neck. The neck and jaw muscles are clearly quite developed. Probably isn't getting the full body workouts she should to stay in peak condition. She's growing, though, so it might not be a good idea to push her too hard. Yet. You've fought Dianthea's tyrantrum. He's not the fastest, but if he gets his jaws around a pokémon the round is over. She actually spends most of the tyrantrum's training time on cardio and leg muscles. The jaws are naturally powerful enough to crush anything short of a steelix. Catching his prey is far more important than finishing it.

You notice Livs fawning over the tyrunt. Livs and her fossil pokémon. It's adorable to see her so passionate about them. Even if they've always felt a little too unnatural for your tastes.

"Coco?"

The tyrunt races back to her trainer's outstretched hand and snuggles up under it.

"Dr. Shirona, can you show me the back door?" Cuicatl asks.

You did tell her to call you Shirona. You suppose that's a good enough compromise.

"Sure."

Once she's chatting up Wakumi (who seems very curious about both the girl and the tyrunt) you turn back to Livs and Lila. A heavy weight seems to fall over the room now that all the kids are gone.

"What haven't I been told yet?" you ask them. "Glitching? Two of them being hurt?"

They tell you.


It takes you a solid five minutes of meditation with Genkei to accept that you shouldn't kill a billionaire American national on his own soil while acting as an official of Japan.

It takes another twenty to decide that you won't actually do it.

You fantasize about how you would do it for another fifteen.

There are options. Kagetora could just blitz his security and decapitate him, but there's no real fun in that. Solomon could be slower and nastier. Make the man doubt his sanity for days or weeks before finally killing him painfully. Less likely to get traced to you, too.

It's cathartic to think about. Unfortunately, it's not something you can actually do. You're a sportswoman with a paramilitary role. Not a monarch. You don't even have diplomatic immunity. And doing it might keep you from helping Cuicatl.

Might be fun to send Mitsuru to perch outside his window every now and again. Just to make him sweat.

"I'm calm."

You don't really need to tell Genkei. He insists you should still verbalize your emotions.

{Good. I have more information to share.}

You sigh. "About Gage?"

{Miss Ichtaca.}

"Is it something I actually need to know? Privacy, remember?"

{She suffers from a severe emotional disorder.}

Fuck.

Are you helping someone with anger issues get a tyrantrum and metagross?

"What kind of emotional disorder?"

{Severe and chronic depression.}

Oh.

"Don't care. Thought I asked you to keep that private unless they were actively going to kill themselves?"

He's usually very good at obeying orders. You're surprised he told you. Unless…

{She is not currently in a mood to self-harm, but I believe she has been within the last lunar cycle.}

Dragon piss.

"Let me know if that changes. I'll talk with her about it when she's healed a little more."


You ignore Livs and Lila while you eat your ice cream. You're guessing they have nothing good to tell you. They, in turn, do not wish to bother you when you're on the edge of making a very violent decision.

When you've finished off your bowl and put the dishes away you finally speak to the other adults. "I'm going to go speak to Cuicatl. Make sure she hasn't gotten in to trouble."

Lila snorts. "Good luck with that. Girl finds herself in the middle of it more often than not."

Wait. "Aren't you supposed to be watching Genesis?"

"She's ten feet or so above me right now. Well within range."

Fair enough. You trust her to know her psionics. Speaking of.

"Rumor has it that you caught a metagross recently."

They lower their head to the table and sigh.

"For better or worse. Just don't expect to see it on the circuits."

"Oh? You going pro now?" Or was she trying to tell you that she isn't?

"Maybe. I'm out of a job."

"You'd be good at it." And they would. They fight more like a pro trainer than a police officer. Even before they caught the metagross they made you work to defeat their team.

"Thank you for the endorsement."

Their face is neutral. Hard to tell if they're being serious or dismissive.

"You're welcome. As always, guests are welcome to anything in the refrigerator or pantry that doesn't have a post-it note on it. Although I may have to reconsider that policy if I'm hosting multiple teenagers…"

Hilda was bad enough when she was still growing.

"We'll hold down the fort. Go check on the kid," Livs says.

"Thank you."

When you get to the edge of the deck you can look out on the beach and check up on the kid and the dragons. Kagetora is lazily swimming through the sand while the tyrunt runs from her. That's probably not aggressive. She's not subtle about disliking people. Wakumi is mostly lying in the surf with her head loosely coiled in a circle around Cuicatl. Huh. Weren't expecting her to be that protective already. The tyrunt trips in the sand and Kagetora approaches long enough to give her a push to her feet. There's a golisopod lurking in the water, sometimes sticking his head up just long enough to observe everyone before sinking back beneath the waves.

Genkei approaches you from behind. If you hadn't spent years around him you would not have noticed.

"You know I don't need half my team to watch a child, right?"

He doesn't answer. Typical. He's always paranoid of letting strangers around you. Even if he can see their hearts.

Or, perhaps, especially because he can see their hearts.

You map out how you would subdue her, the tyrunt, and the golisopod in two words. What your pokémon would most likely do. What hers might. 'Match' over in less than two seconds. Probably less than one. You project the confidence towards your partner and he still doesn't budge.

"If you insist."

You press your stress into the sand once you hit the beach. The world opens up and you feel the shifting particles and everything buried in and pressing down upon them.

Cuicatl is lighter than you'd expected. That's potentially concerning.

You press that aside for the moment. You'll have time to make sure it's nothing problematic going forward. Kagetora notices your approach and swims over for headpats. You oblige, of course.

"I see you're already making friends."

Wakumi dismissively flicks one of her antennae. Kagetora just softly bellows as you move to scratching his neck.

"They're good dragons," Cuicatl says. "Very friendly."

"There are people who would disagree."

{Fools and cretins,} Wakumi replies in your mind. And probably Cuicatl's. {She is neither.}

Milotic aren't quite adept at reading people as Lucario are, but they're close. Perhaps she's reached the same conclusion as Genkei and is being extra protective because of it. Or perhaps she just likes being spoken to by someone who can speak her own tongue back.

"Do milotic speak Upper Draconic?"

They aren't technically dragons, just closely related. And highly intelligent. And powerful. It's enough that gyarados and milotic are considered honorary dragons. Dunsparce as well, even if that isn't as easy to defend when speaking to the public.

{Naturally.}

That alone might be enough to get them reclassified as dragon-types. You could easily just retool her thesis into an argument for that. If Wakumi considers herself a dragon. If she doesn't it's not worth pushing for.

"Does that make you a dragon, then?"

{In the ways that count.}

"Who taught you?" She evolved under your care. Do feebas know it, too?

{I was reborn knowing it.}

An innate language, then. The linguists are going to go nuts over that.

"Then how did that come about?"

"A gift from Cipactli."

You turn towards Cuicatl. Her golisopod has risen slightly out of the water and is looking at you with an almost predatory gaze. Genkei notices and takes a step forward. The bug promptly bolts in the opposite direction.

"I don't think you mentioned that in the materials you sent me."

And that would have been a damn good place to start.

"I was getting to it. Just hadn't remembered to write it yet. It's not something Alice talked about a lot. Cipactli isn't that important anymore and only one of her children is awake."

"I don't follow."

She takes that as an invitation to explain.


The oldest and strongest dragons roam the cosmos. When they find a planet with life they may land and guide it along. The first to find the earth was Cipactli, a clay dragon that weaved her way into the planet. From there she watched the cycle of life and death, guiding it in such a way that the proto-dragons came about. Lfie9

While she watched nature progress, she created three children to help her protect the fragile planet. They were the lords of sea and soil, and above them was Quetzlcoatl, the White Tezcatlipoca, bringer of winds and protector of life.

When an uncountable number of generations had passed, Cipactli finally found enough worthy species to become dragons. She granted them a fraction of her power and the gifts of intellect and speech. They were to become her heirs and rule over the planet's life.

The three protectors grew upset over other, lesser beings asked to rule. They were being asked to serve lower creatures that had been mere beasts a generation ago. They plotted to seize control of the world, despite their mother's wishes. The three children struck before Cipactli had fully recovered from granting her blessing. She only half-heartedly resisted the coup, unwilling to harm her children, and was torn asunder into thousands of pieces and scattered across the planet's surface.

Even now she sleeps. Every few millennia she finds the strength to stir, but never enough to reform.

Quetzlcoatl abdicated the right to rule over creation to parlay with the dragons from worlds beyond, keeping any hostile ones away from the planet. For a time the lords of sea and soil cooperated, before the lord of the land grew jealous of the size of his sister's domain. He demanded she submit to him as the true ruler and she refused.

The two fought viciously and nearly destroyed all that they wished to command. In the end, Quetzlcoatl intervened and dropped the heavens on his siblings. Then he tore out their hearts and placed them on the peak of a mountain, the sky lord's own domain. It would be tens of millions of years before either was woken up.


"I know the myth says 'dropped the heavens,' but I'm pretty sure he just crashed a meteor into the sea east of Anahuac. The timing lines up."

It takes you a few minutes to process all of that. In 2012 when Japan was nearly destroyed, some kid on the other side of the world knew more about how to awaken and potentially seal the monsters than you did. Maybe more than the men who woke the gods knew. And apparently this was just common knowledge for the dragons. For the draconids.

There had been rumors that one was guiding Aqua-dan behind the scenes. It was never made public to avoid acts of genocide from a wrathful public, but the tribe has been closely surveilled ever since. You're placing a lot more faith in those rumors now. And you're guessing she knew exactly what she was doing.

You're starting to understand why the dragon tribes guard their secrets so closely. The one time one slipped, hundreds of thousands of people died. It could have easily been billions.

Cuicatl shifts nervously. "What do you think?"

"I think you just made major advances in the fields of paleontology, linguistics, theology, astrobiology, taxonomy, pokémon studies, and anthropology," you say dryly.

"Oh." She absent-mindedly holds out a hand and the tyrunt rushes over for neck scratches. "Is it really that important?"

"You also might end up on a few watchlists."

{Are you sure all of that is correct?} Wakumi asks. {No one ever told that to me.}

Kagetora grunts and growls.

"She knew the story. Although she was told different names."

Wakumi sings something low and mournful. Kagetora grunts back.

"Kagetora says that her mother told her the story."

And no one told Wakumi. You're going to need to console her about that.

"I see. Any reason you didn't tell me during the Hoenn crisis, Kagetora."

She looks away. It's what she does when she's embarrassed or ashamed. She answers in a series of slow, rumbling sounds.

{I did not want to take sides between the three lords,} Genkei translates.

"You tried to… never mind." What happened at the Celestica Temple isn't classified. That would require the government to know about it. It's something even higher. On the mountain she tried to fight off Dialga. She managed to draw blood before things went wrong. 'Atoms scattered across a thousand years' wrong. That was when you called on the dark god of the Celestica, just as your distant ancestors had when invaders arrived from across the sea.

Dialga was kind enough to undo the kill when he wiped all memory of the Celestica gods from the timeline. Kagetora remembers what happened. She has never wished to speak of it.

The dragon doesn't answer your aborted question.

"The good news is that I think we can make some of this into a thesis. The Japanese government might also give you a Level Nine license, our Class V equivalent, in exchange for never telling anyone anything about ancient dragon gods, no matter the circumstances. The US has a reciprocation treaty and I can smooth over any upset bureaucrats or politicians."

This is arguably a matter of global security. People won't mind you throwing your weight around.

"Is it that dangerous?"

You take a deep breath. "What's the most dangerous thing you could summon or control with one hundred million dollars and the cooperation of any single person on the planet."

She pauses for a very long time.

"Probably just Quetzlcoatl. I don't think I could heal The Split Gods."

Nope. Fucking nope. You don't want to know how you would merge Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem. They're threatening enough individually. And she thinks there's a way to do it.

"'Just' the god that dropped a meteor on the planet and killed seventy percent of all life?"

"The dragons say he regrets it."

You're more concerned about someone chaining the dragon. Stronger gods have been dominated before.

The girl shrinks into herself and looks down at the ground. "I'm sorry I made you mad. I won't tell anyone about any of this."

"I'm not angry at you."

You're pretty sure you aren't. Just… frustrated. Not at her. She's just giving you a massive headache.

Cuicatl relaxes a little bit. "Um. This is different, but. Did you ever hear about a Danielle Lee?"

"Can't say I have."

A Galarian, Canadian, Australian, or American trainer by the sound of it. You only started following the American leagues when Caitlyn moved there. You've never followed the others more closely than your position requires.

"She was a pro trainer in Unova around 2000. Retired and moved to Anahuac in 2002. Had a hydreigon."

You were just starting to climb the ranks then. It would have been easy to miss her. Still, hyreigon are rare enough that you might have heard her discussed in passing. You'll have to jog your memory.

"I take it she owned the hydreigon in your thesis?"

"Yes." She hesitates and nervously taps her foot. You can't see it, but you can feel the movement of the sand around it. "She was my mother. I just thought that maybe you would have known her."

Was. You hadn't figured she had parents in her life given the seeming precariousness of her situation. Sad to hear it confirmed.

"I have a friend in the Unovan Elite 4. I can try and get some of her records to you."

"I would like that."

Then it's settled. You'll send Caitlyn an email before getting started on dinner.


Lila excused themselves before dinner. Something about cleaning out their office. Privately you think they were just exhausted. When they sat down sometimes you caught their eyes drooping. Poor thing. Probably hasn't slept since this mess began. You offered them a room but they declined. Teleported away with their alakazam a few minutes later.

Now you're cleaning up the dishes with Livs while the kids talk on the pool deck. You'll make them pitch in later (or just let them—Cuicatl had practically begged you to help), but this was a good excuse to have one-on-one time with Livs.

Once everything is settled, she dries her arms off and takes a tepid step towards the door.

"I suppose I should be going now."

"You know you're more than welcome to stay the night. It's quite late and it's a long trip back to Akala."

She half-smiles in a way that betrays just how tired she is. "There is a free guest room."

You raise your exposed eyebrow as innocently as you can.

"Guest room?"


Your phone rings at 6:21 a.m. Caitlyn. You groan and roll out of bed. Livs is blearily looking over at you. Damn phone must have woken her up. "Caitlyn," you tell her. "Have to take this. Back in a sec."

You exit the room to see Genkei meditating on the couch. No Kagetora. Weird. She usually camps out right outside your door on the nights where you kick her out of the room. Genkei opens his eyes and rises as you answer the call. "Hello."

Your exhaustion must've found its way into your voice. "Wait. Shit. Time zones. I can wait if—"

"Already up. Did you already find something?"

You step outside on to the pool deck. Genkei follows.

{Where's Toro?}

{Upstairs with Cuicatl and Genesis.}

Oh. She must have flopped down between them. Probably took up most of the bed, too. And snored. The girls might've been too scared to send her away.

You'll have to talk to all three of them later in the morning.

"I found a lot, actually. Was talking with Grim and he got all interested. Figured he would've heard about someone using a hydreigon in Unova. So we got digging and it turns out that there's no trainer with that name between '95 or '05. Or in any of our records back to '83. Haven't digitized the stuff from before then. And Grim didn't remember any woman with a hydreigon in that time."

"How curious." Your brain slowly wakes up and you try to figure out what the hell you're being told. "Maybe she had the wrong name? Or region?"

"We thought so, too. So Grim called the customs people and got their records on hydreigon exports to Anahuac. Figured that would've kicked up a big paperwork trail, moving a dangerous pokémon to a sanctioned country."

"Right."

"Nothing. Couldn't find any exports at all from after the Thanksgiving War. Maybe she just slipped across the border?"

"Or she never existed."

"Or that." She pauses. "Probably that."

"Thanks for the help. I'll let you or Grimsley know if I have any more questions."

"No problem. Take care. And, um, get back to sleep, maybe?"

"I'll try."

After the call is ended you take a deep breath and look towards Genkei. "Was Cuicatl lying yesterday?"

{She believed she was telling the truth.}

"I think so, too. No reason to lie about it to me. And someone clearly taught her the language and stories. Kagetora wouldn't have known it otherwise."

{Then what do you think happened?}

You take a minute to put the pieces together. It's hard so early in the morning after a bout of jet lag, but you manage something half-decent. "I think there was a hydreigon that taught her. She was just lied to about her mother."

{Why?}

The sun is starting to rise over the sea. It's always gorgeous in Alola. Maybe the prettiest of anywhere you've ever been. The entire sea and sky alight in shades of orange, red, and purple. And the temperature is just right. During the day Alola gets a little too warm for your Celestica blood to handle.

"I don't know," you finally answer. "And I don't think I can afford to be direct when asking her. She's fragile right now. Still healing. I don't want to stress her too badly."

{It might push her over the edge.}

You didn't want to be so blunt about it.

"It's a very interesting mystery. And you know I love my mysteries."

Now, how do you go about solving it?