As the author, I would like to say that the extreme writing differences between the storylines are intentional. The modern time language would be weird if it was the same as the far past storyline language, and vice versa. It also makes some things easier to write.

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Then, House of the Twin Princes

Faná: (HISUIAN: fan-UH) term for the shape an Elohim takes when conversing with mortals.

The hall was dark and warm, and filled with shadows and half-lights, with mighty pillars upholding the stone roof. But here and there bright sunbeams fell in glimmering shafts from the eastern windows, high over the court. As their eyes adjusted, the Alolans perceived that the floor was carved of bricks in many hues, and branching runes and strange symbols were engraved beneath their feet.

At the far end of the great hall was a dais with three seats upon it, and the foremost of these was a great gilded chair. Upon it sat a man so bent with age that he seemed a child in height, but his white hair was long and thick and fell in braids from beneath a golden crown on his brow. And by his left and right sides were two devices of stone; a Sword and Shield that rested upon two thrones. They were scarred and dimmed with age, but a white light shone from them, and power was contained within that Ishmael could not guess at.

There was silence, and the old King did not move to greet Theon or the others. At length, a guildsman at the foot of the dais spoke. "Hail, Wulfhere, King of Galar! Theon the Captian of the Havens has returned. For behold! Logaria has Downfallen, and now all our friends and new allies come, lest we all be destroyed. A Logarthrim has come for Judgment from the Two Princes."

Slowly the old King rose to his feet, leaning heavily on a short staff of bone. "I greet you," he said. "And maybe you look for welcome. But in truth your presence here is of little welcome; for you have brought a Southman into our inner courts. If Logaria has fallen, then any news from afar is well received. And why must the Two Princes be disturbed to pass an edict of Judgment upon this Logathrim? Why shall I welcome you and your swarthy guests, Theon of the Havens?"

"My King!" Theon cried. "It is the Law of our land that any Logarthrim captured must be given a trial at the hands of the Twin Princes! And since when did you rest so heavily upon your prop? Cast it aside and breathe the free air again, my Lord! Age does not lie so heavily upon your shoulders as some would think."

From the King's hand fell his staff, clattering across the paved court. He looked up as if ceasing some dull toil, and beheld the glory of the sun shining through the high windows. Now tall and straight he stood, and his eyes were clear and blue.

"My dreams have been troubled as of late," Wulfhere said. "Now I awake! Some spell of great weariness has been lain upon me, and by who I know not."

"Fools and brigands!" the Logarian rasped, having forced off his gag. "Is this what you are lorded over by? A feeble and aging King, of a little land, and of little strength? I say to you, Uzukuri-ghuash Mbelekoro! Burn at the altars of the Great Djinn!"

"Do not speak."

The Logarthrim went mute and cowed back. For rising from the Rusted Sword and the Rusted Shield like the shimmering silver waves of spring rain came two shapes, indistinct and faint, but terrible and fell. The Light of Heaven shone about the court, and the sun shone ever brighter. The Galarians fell upon their faces, and the Alolans were obliged to do the same. And with one voice the Galarians cried: "The Twin Princes, Zacian and Zamazenta! The Twin Princes have come to us!"

Two great wolf-shapes could be seen halted atop the thrones. They were fey, and could be seen through like fall mist. They rose upward into a great menacing shape, like the monument of some ancient king of stone set upon a hill. For now, Ishmael had come to the seat of the Crowned Sword and Shield's innermost council, where they held ritual in the Faná of two great beasts, by the virtue of the Rusted Sword and Shield that they had tied their fate and loyalty to. And Ishmael perceived that he heard a song from the heavens, of a mode and speech that he knew.

"Oh, who may say, and who was there,"

"When all things came into the air?"

"When the bright stars first sent forth their light,"

"When the first frost covered the night,"

"When first the west wind unfurled the seas,"

"When first gleaming fruit adorned the trees?"

"When first Arceus crowned the Kings of Men?"

"And when all was put underground,"

"The Two Princes set forth their gifts,"

"Earth-wrought, Unforged, Scions of Westernesse, the Rusted Sword and the Rusted Shield,"

"O'er the hither seas on boats of silver glass, laid upon an undying doom, withing the Slumbering Weald."

"And now we hold council," Zacian said, and his voice was strange and seemed to come from far away. "Now, accursed Son of Logaria, tell us why you have tormented the people of Gar-Dena and other distant lands. Behold! We are not bound to the circles of the World, but choose to tie our fate to its allotment, and suffer along with its inhabitants, until we diminish into the Undying Lands of Beulah at the moment of our uttermost weariness, where we shall be but a memory and a shadow in the Light of Arceus. Do not say that we desire Lordship over Men for Lordship's sake. We, Elohim of the Most High, ask you this, Son of Earth."

And the Logarian was given full leave to say what he would. His expression was that of a great man suffering for a brave cause, and eager rather than reluctant to provoke his captors. "I say that you are False Gods! There is only one who alone is worshipful: the Great Djinn, who made the Everlasting Darkness and is the Lord of that Darkness, and out of that Darkness he might make worlds of endless abundance for his followers, so that the accumulation of their wealth and power shall have no end! Ai, ai! Mbelekoro, look favorably upon my testimony!"

"Be silent," Zamazenta said. "You, wicked one, have told me nothing of yourself, so I shall tell you for your own sake. In Downfallen Logaria you and your kin gained great wisdom concerning machines and the sciences, and by this, you have made ships that can cross the Sundering Seas swifter than any other vessel of Men or Pokemon; but in all other things, you have the mind of a beast. When I heard of you, I brought you here with honor. Because you think that we and the Original One mean evil to you, you talk as an animal talks against a greater animal of some other kind, and now stand ensnared in your own words. You traded in the wealth of nations, and the souls of Men and Pokemon. These are your dealings with your own kind. And what you would intend for our people, we know. You would enslave or slay them all. To you, it is nothing whether a Being has a Soul or not."

"And first," Zacian said. "We thought this was because you only cared if a being had the same shape of body and race as you, but Ishmael has that and you would kill him as lightly as you would a Pokemon. We did not know, being constrained to our little land, that the Evil Djinn had done so much Evil in Logaria, which we now name Atalante, the Downfallen. If you were mine to kill, I would spill your blood even now. Do not think follies such that I am unbodied and cannot harm you, for by my hand Arceus does greater things than this, and I could slay you even in the very Girdle of the Sword and Shield by thought alone. But we do not yet resolve to do this. It is for you to speak. Let us see if there is anything in your mind, Fallen One, besides fear and death and desire."

A nobleman interceded. "No, no, my Princes. Do not listen to him! He is only a vulgar robber. You must end him now-"

"Silence," Zacian and Zamazenta said in unison. There was an almost imperceptible change in the light, and the nobleman crumpled up and fell onto the ground. When he resumed his standing position he was white and panting.

"Now, continue your speech. Our interpreters shall turn your speech into ours."

Now, Galar

It is by colonialist progression, whether mundane or magical, that civilizations come from the amoeba to Men. To say otherwise is folly, for every reasonable person knows that some races and peoples are superior to others on the basis of Evolution, and must be treated as such. Pokemon are no more exempt from this than Alolans are.

-Emrett Dialogues, compiled works

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It was another dream. Marvin saw a monument rise in a white desert, and then split into four parts in a terrible earthquake. The whole of the northern land was ravaged, and a shape, black and terrible, yet impotent, rose over the Earth and screamed-

"Hmm? Where am I?"

Marvin awoke, and sensed that the Magnolia RV was moving. "Yes, I am in Magnolia's trailer."

Taking a few unsteady steps onto the laminaguaze floor, Marvin wondered where everyone was. "Henry? Casey? Magnolia? Lancelot? Grooky? Searbunny? Oh, no! The Great Rapture* happened! But who's driving? The autonavigation!"

A shout rang from behind Casey's laboratory door. "Fourteen seconds!"

Marvin risked some strange revelation and opened the white pressureseal door. Henry, with Grooky nestled on his shoulder, came to greet him, Casey being engrossed in her crafts. "Ah, you are awake! Casey is currently analyzing the data from Leon's fight, using the Vikivolt Drone footage."

"What was that you said about fourteen seconds?"

"The time it took for Leon to return the Wooloo back to the farm!" Casey bubbled, taking heed to Marvin at last. "We must analyze the Champion! Leon's battles that we can access using archival footage only give us one set of data; his real-world decision making will demonstrate things such as judgment and reaction times!"

"Wait," Marvin said. "Then shouldn't we have let Leon drive away the Obstagoon, so we could gain that data as well?"

"It is our missionaria principalis," Henry said, using the speech of Old Kalos. "To have Leon give us permission to participate in the Gym Battles. We had to do such a thing ourselves, or our chances to impress Leon are nil."

"Say," Marvin said, looking around the cabin. "Where is Professor Magnolia? She should be awake, I heard that older people get up earlier."

"She is driving the vehicle."

"She ought to let the car drive itself!"

"Perhaps, but she does not trust thinking machines," Henry said. "Anti-robot sentiment, I'm afraid. She always loved to drive cars, and race along mountain trails and far-flung desert paths. Oh, Casey, might you look at the data from Sirfetch'd battle as well?"

The crysplaz screens flickered between several images, from when Sirfetch'd had saved Marvin, the battle against the digital Pangoro, and the routing of the Obstagoon. "The data I gained from the Obstagoon incident allows me to create some graphical images of Sirfetch'd spear throw. It appears that the time shorted! The maintenance that you did worked splendidly, Henry!"

"Yes, I made the angle on the spear tip sharper," Henry said. "And the drag has decreased! My idea to soak in mineral water seems to have worked as well. The density of the leek has increased substantially, making it more durable. Perhaps it was because of the unique nutrients in the spring. Check the durability next, I want to see how it deformed after using Slam..."

The Magnolia RV rattled, and then came to a total stop. The Ball Guy Head fell on Marvin from its upper compartment, knocking him over. "Professor, what happened?"

"We have a flat tire," Magnolia yelled from the driver's seat. "No stray nail or pothole could get through those reinforced plaz tires! It must have been a wild Pokemon of sorts, please go and take a look around."

Henry and Casey left into the starry, brightening sky, and Marvin followed them, emboldened to recklessness by recent events. "Hold!" Henry said. "We do not know what Pokemon caused the flat! It could be something that none of us are prepared to fight, or at least too dangerous for you. Grooky, use your night-eyes. Check the perimeter."

No twisted creature leaped out of the predawn haze. The road was clear and safe, and Casey moved to holoscan the tires to identify what had punctured them. "Seems like it ran over something hard...very sharp, too! Some sharp pieces of yellow rock are lodged into the wheels. I say that we just need some guazetape, and to get the repair nanites to work."

Casey looked up from her calculations and saw that Sobble, a pathetic little creature, had exited the Magnolia RV. "Sobble, what are you doing outside? Get back inside!"

The Pokemon's eyes began to well, and then it burst into tears, the fluid liners that laced its checks producing liters of salted water. "It wants to help!" Marvin said. "Is there anything it can do to-"

"No!" Casey said, beginning to cry herself. "Sobble does not have a Trainer yet! If it bumps into a strong wild Pokemon, then it won't be able to run or defend itself!"

"Shield, why are you crying?"

"You started it, Marvin!"

Grasping his sodden cheeks, Marvin realized that he was sobbing, along with Henry. "Oh, it's just Sobble," Henry said. "Easily moved to sadness, its tears pack the chemical punch of a hundred onions. The tears will clear up, eventually."

"Is that so," Marvin said. "Sobble, why don't we wait inside the Magnolia together?"

A crown of spines burst from the road, scattering brown dust and debris into the cold air. Sobble bolted in terror and hid behind the punctured tire, while a trio of Drednaw emerged from their light sleep. "Drednaw!" Casey yelled. "The puncture on the tire...it matches the shell! We must have run over them!"

Marvin fled at Henry's command, and the Drednaw lumbered forward. "It appears that they are going to attack," Henry concluded. "Drednaw fear the roads and do not rest within them! Such a thing is unheard of...but this matches the trend of strange doings among Pokemon never seen before in these times. Something moves them to not fear Men. But we must defeat them, regardless of the oddity of their presence. Shield, what Type are Drednaw, again?"

"Well," Shield said, the looming battle interfering with her organic computer-mind's logic and data parsing abilities. "I'm sure their Drednaw, but the Type is slipping my mind. Maybe it'll come to me in battle! Scorbunny, separate the three of them!"

Scorbunny rushed forward and struck the Drednaw at the maw, swift as a flying spark. The flames upon its feet were preheated and ready to fight, giving the smaller Pokemon speed far beyond that of the Drednaw. Scorbunny kicked the alpha with its blazing feet, giving it a burn on its light cerulean face. "It's on fire! Scorbunny, get 'em!"

The Pokemon leaped forward again, but it turned and diverted from its course, for the alpha Drednaw had gained its wits and was now running along the unpaved road. Scorbunny was caught between the anvil and the hammer-stroke, for another Drendnaw had rushed at it, causing the rabbit to feint again. Grooky was engaged in a hopeless match of tug-of-war with the third Drednaw, the wooden stick ensnared within the great beast's maw.

"Marvin!" Magnolia cried from the driver's seat. "Casey and Henry's phones are on the dinner table! Go get them!"

"What if I can't throw them far enough?!"

"That is not of your concern. Now, go!"

Marvin seized the two devices, and threw them into the battlefield. They landed far short of Henry and Casey, and Marvin hung his head in terrible shame. But then the pieces of technology hovered above the gravel, and appeared to have a facsimile of a face upon their crysplaz screens. They flew into the two Pokedex Holder's hands, fully alert and operational. "Now, Marvin, I assume that you have heard of a unique Pokemon called Rotom."

"Yes, Professor! It's a Pokemon that loves to indwell electrical appliances and robots! Since many were discovered in Galar when modern technology became widespread fifty-two years ago, Galarians use it in their computers and appliances to make them more 'friendly' and less prone to breakdowns."

The Pokedexes shone to life. "Grooky, abandon your stick! You shall never have it drawn free of Drednaw's jaws! I will fix it after the battle, fear not!"

"The injured Drednaw is tiring!" Casey yelled. "Scorbunny, keep it moving until it wears itself down!"

In the shadow of the lofty hills, the greedy Drednaw yet unharmed ran toward Scorbunny. The wounded alpha was scorned anew, and it leapt upon the shell of the lesser and drove its head into the ground. With a great bite, as when a tower of horn and hide strikes down a biting fly, the Drednaw seized Scorbunny by the waist, and the Pokemon's fire-pouch burst. With a sudden flame as brilliant as the glory of the rising sun in the distance, the Drednaw was burned to the fainting, and Scorbunny lay witless.

"Blast!" Marvin said. "It bit the fire-pouch, a second heart! And where did Sobble come from?"

The creature was wailing with tremulous ululation over the fallen Scorbunny, tears falling freely into the road. The stricken Drednaw, second to the defeated alpha, removed its horned crest from the dirt and charged at the gnat of a Pokemon. But Sobble shimmered, became indistinct, and fell out of all sight.

The Drednaw turned dully and dug itself into the gravel, face hitting the puddle of liquid misery. The chemical vapors of the tears entered its eyes, and the irritants caused it to begin to sob uncontrollably. It ran amok bewildered and collided with it's unwounded companion, and Grooky saw its chance.

Its stick free, Goroky struck the two beasts over their unprotected necks. They fell unconscious, heaps of metal and sinew strewn over a lone country road.

"Sobble!" Casey cried. "It becomes invisible whenever it gets soaked in water! Well, technically not invisible, you just can't perceive it through the absorbent cells on its skin...where is it, anyhow?"

"Right here..."

Sobble clutched with a wet grip to Marvin's ankle, bearing a look of peculiar nature. Magnolia recalled an ancestral memory, and knew that Sobble desired a Bond, and was glad for it. "Marvin, would you like to take care of Sobble?"

"Really?"

"If both you and Sobble agree, no Power that walks upon the world in this age may stop you."

Sobble began to wail in joy, and now all were crying, and although they could not have stopped the chemical reaction if they had desired to do so, Magnolia would not advise them not to weep, for not all tears were a shame. Mingled with the irritant was a tint of joy at the unity of Man and Pokemon, a Bond that would never be broken. For even the Light of the Sun and Moon would fade, but beyond that, the love between a Trainer and a Pokemon would endure forever.

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Now, a hidden place near Turfield

Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all councils and courses may go awry.

-Chairman Bronze Tercano, private diaries

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Two men and a woman sat upon chairs around a concentric table, hidden from the rising sun.

The first man was hard of face and dress, his hands clasped upon his ceremonial buckler. Dark blue was his uniform, and upon his breast was laid the Sigal of Roria, a white flame set within seven stars. Over his left shoulder the eponymous Poke Ball of the Association was displayed, although he carried the latter as if it were of less honor than the former. Bronc Tercano, Chairman of the Pokemon Association, Grand Bashar of the Confederation of Rorian States.

The second man had an inkvine scar over his face, which rippled when he spoke. He wore a solid black jumpsuit, with only a single symbol that could be seen: a hand, with fingers made of writhing serpents. A leather sheath was at his hip, which contained an exotic pulsesword, reversed-engineered from the original copy recovered at the Battle of the Forest of Elmoth. Jake Albans, Grandmaster of the Serpent's Fang.

The woman had hair of darkness, with dull violet streaks throughout. Beneath her green eyes was a dress of linen fabric, with a wreath of Poke Balls about her waist. A small scroll was tied to her hip, engraved with a gold and green insignia. Tessa Woodhall, Patron of the Library and Mayor of Rosecove City.

All had come to one of Bronze's limitless Galarian hideouts upon his command. The spacefolder shuttlecraft had assembled the two from Roria into Galar in less than a few hours. Jake thought that spacefolder ships were an unnecessary convenience, and that they should have been saved for more important duties in space or warfare. Once, it would take three days to fly to Galar. Now, these spoiled youths can get nearly anywhere in the civilized world in under a handful of hours! Disgraceful!

"And here we are," Bronze said. "Just like old times. Jake, is the school staying afloat? Tess, did my recommendations for Bibliographer candidates bear fruit?"

"We get by," Jake growled. "Over three hundred students are now senior swordmasters, and a few dozen Pokemon have been trained to accompany them. The Hand has been giving us all sorts of technology. I wouldn't allow you or anyone else to get your hands on them, eh?"

"Only two of the fifty students made it to the third stage of training," Tess said. "But they show promise. Over six Bibliographers have been created, along with myself. Bronze, it's incredible. They can predict fiftieth and sixtieth-ordered variables in a simulation. They can beat any machine at a chess match, or even some Psychic-type Pokemon. They have ordered their minds more like machines than humans."

"This is welcome news, but you know what threat we face," Bronze said. "My old friends, the pride of Roria has been much diminished over the years. We must defeat Rose, but I cannot do it unaided. We will have need of the Hand, the Bibliographers, and the Pokedex Holders. Help shall come from the hands of children when the Wise falter."

"I know not of these Pokedex Holders that you speak of," Jake said. "And I wish to observe them. Whatever use they have to you is not my concern; rather, it is their reaction time, physical fortitude, and Willpower. If they are lacking in these things then they are better off out of our minds and schemes."

"It is unlikely that this plan of using these two to win the League will succeed," Tess said, having extrapolated a conclusion. "Bronze, surely you do not intend to stake the future of Galar in the hands of children?"

How she forgets that many of our greatest deeds were accomplished when we were youths. "I do not. Tess, read my face, perform your functions as a Bibliographer, and judge what the Plan is to be."

Tess concentrated, a skill honed by hours alone in an environment of pure quiet, allowing for perfect meditation. Immediately, her voice changed in timbre to the sound of an auctioneer reading a printed transcript, completely alien to a conversational tone. Her Library-trained mind became pure logic, projecting it upon every possibility of Bronze's speech. She must be a generalist, a human computer, a Porygon.

"You will see, now that these two Pokedex Holders have entered the Galarian League, whether they shall be able to progress beyond a handful of Gyms. You will use their victory, or even defeat, as the grounds for a Convention Audit as a boon for your holdings in the League Commission. Rose will protest. He will say that the Chairman has no authority to litigate a private company. You will come forward as an independent entity to do this."

"Very good," Bronze said, grinning. "Look at her go, Albans! That L.S witch taught her well."

"You will perform an audit. Macro Cosmo's funds will be at your disposal. You will have me look for anything that piques your curiosity. What I find will be dependent on the manner of the irregularity. You will confront Rose. You will say that he is hiding something. He will either confess or stay silent. If he stays silent, you will present the evidence to the public eye. Rose will be discredited. If you find nothing, then there is no threat; thus, you only have to tolerate Rose as a potential competitor. If Rose responds with armed force in any scenario..."

"...you will send in three legions of Rorian Swordmasters to eliminate your opposition. The expenditure will be incredible, but Rose will be removed from office."

"The unexpected is not always a surprise," Jake observed. "At least when Bibliographers are involved. It seems that in response to any taboo on robots in Galar, your Bibliographers can perform the work of a computer with the speed of a Porygon's processing unit! Ingenious!"

Tess smiled, reverting from her exhaustive Bibliographer state to a non-anomalous human. "Of course, I am glad to be able to still interact as a human with other people and Pokemon. A person may have a heart and soul...but not always. Being a senior Bibliographer means losing your uniqueness. In becoming more like a machine, people of flesh can become monsters, too."

Bronze sighed in relief. Tess had not yet gone far down the Dark Path. "Now, we must leave for the Wild Area. Tess, have your projections shown that they will make a route toward Turfield?"

"Yes. The parallel loops of causality which I perceive extend to that place and proceed along those loops to a conclusion. My mind is unlike anything that has been seen before on Earth! Shall we accompany Bronze in his shuttle?"

"If you are willing to pay the fuel expenditure. With your computer-mind you might be able to find a bargain."

...

Meanwhile, at Turfield Stadium...

Milo unraveled the spice-paper fax with calloused hands. His eyes, two blots of chalcedony green within a sea of freckles, poured over the message.

"Leon has recommended two trainers for the Gym Challenge. How unlike him."

...

Hulbury Stadium...

Atop the Hulbury Tower, Nessa looked over the pink sky, until it merged with the far green hills. "The Champion has recommended a Challenger...two of them."

...

Motostoke Stadium...

Kabu affixed his training shoes. "Regardless of who these two youths are, I shall fight them in the manner of the fiery spirit of Hisui!"

...

Ballonlea Stadium...

In a psychedelic state of tranquility, Opal envisioned that she sat atop a mushroom, in a haze of glimmering white spores. "Two challengers. How interesting..."

.

The news of the undefeated Champion, Leon, recommending new challengers...

...quickly spread through the stadiums of Galar.