Espir wasn't sure what he expected, but he was pleasantly surprised nonetheless. Eterna City was old and built into the land as if it had grown there naturally. Where Oreburgh had clearly emphasized its affinity with mining, you could feel Eterna City's connection with the past.

The cobblestones were aged and slightly warped underfoot; the buildings were built out of an architecture no longer used in modern design. There was a hulking statue of some titanic Pokémon standing tall, closer to the edge of the city.

Espir could see the gym, standing atop a hill to the north of the town, and the building that he had to assume was the history museum was close to it, just down the hill to its left.

"We can go and visit the museum once we've settled in," Alexis said, noticing Espir looking off towards it, "I have to introduce you and Starly to my family."

Alexis guided Espir off of the main streets of the old city and towards a smaller house. It was well kept, but showed its age, like everything in Eterna City. The windows were thin, likely causing colder nights in winter, and the roof sagged slightly beneath the weight of time. Other than that, it really looked like quite a cozy little home.

Alexis eagerly ran up to the front door and knocked on it- or really she pounded on it hard enough for Espir to be shocked that the entire door didn't fall in on itself.

"Who is it?" A call came from within the home as somebody came closer to the front door.

"You know who it is," Alexis shouted back, "let me in!"

"Alexis? Is that-"

The front door swung open and an old lady that must have been at least fifty years Alexis' senior greeted the two of them at the door. She beamed at Alexis and wrapped her in a long and loving hug, but then caught sight of Espir and jumped with a slight shriek.

"What is- Piplup didn't die did he?" The lady whispered to Alexis.

Espir tried his best to look approachable. He smiled and waved up at the lady as Alexis explained that he was an entirely different Pokémon that she had caught. Espir wasn't a fan of that sort of explanation, but he didn't kick up a fuss. It didn't truly matter in the grand scheme of things.

"Well, what are you doing back so soon?" The lady asked as she waved the both of them in. "Don't tell me you've already gotten your…"

Alexis held up her gym badge and grinned at the woman. Espir still waited to be introduced to her, but figured that Pokémon didn't get such pleasantries.

Alexis was offered a drink and a seat in the living room as she and the lady spoke, but Espir might as well have been a literal shadow for all the attention he was given after the initial interaction. He wanted to care about this conversation, but it meant little to him and the longer he was ignored, the more the museum called to him. He didn't have time to waste if Team Cosmic were attempting any of their madness again. He needed to get into that museum and look around. If he had to do that by running off once again, he wouldn't even think twice about it. Alexis had her family member to chat with and they clearly didn't care if he was around for all the times they didn't bother to include him in their talks. He knew he was a Pokémon now, but he felt it was unnecessarily rude anyway.

Silently and slowly, Espir melted into the shadows behind Alexis' chair. On his own, he could easily sneak into any building, especially in a city as old as Eterna. He would just have to apologize later, or Alexis could apologize to him for being so rude. He didn't care if he was being petty, he just wanted to be included and, if not, he wanted to do what he could to either save this world or get back to his own and forget about this place.

Espir retraced his steps, keeping close to the edges of the streets where the shadows were the most pronounced, until he had returned to the entrance to the city. From there, he could look almost directly north and see the building that was the Eterna Historical Museum.

While the museum wasn't the gym, it was likely the most impressive of all the buildings he could see within Eterna as it had huge towering glass windows and a protruding structure at the front of it to make it appear even larger. It was at least the size of a wealthy mansion and had the grounds around it to prove it. There was a long driveway up to the entrance of the museum and lush green gardens surrounding it. If the building did house the information Espir sought after, it was going to take him a very, very long time to find it.

It was near impossible for Espir to find shadows to walk within for the entire walk up the drive, so instead, he walked as if he knew where he was going. Proudly striding up the pathway in case anyone tried to stop him. He really should have attempted to sneak in at night, but he didn't want to wait. Every passing moment, after such a long time spent walking up to Eterna from Oreburgh, felt like a step closer to annihilation. He needed to get on the same page as Team Cosmic, or better, and fast.

Espir walked up to the entrance to the museum but thought better of going in like just some normal museum attendee. Instead, he walked around the perimeter of the building, looking for any open windows at all. If he could sneak in successfully, then he had a better chance of hiding within the museum undetected if they closed before his research was complete. He only thanked his luck that he was a Pokémon with fingers, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to access any books that he might need to read.

Thankfully, there wasn't an open window, but a propped open exit towards the back of the museum. Likely a service door for the people that kept the grounds tidy, or other workers, to enter instead of going through the same entrance as the customers. The thought of that took Espir back to his own job. He doubted he had it anymore, unless all of these events had happened over the course of one, insane dream-filled night. Instead, he had likely been fired for missing shifts. He couldn't blame them. He would kill for an easy shift at his job, instead of this, right now. The novelty of being within a Pokémon's body had worn off quickly. He was tired of having to look up to address people and of those same people not understanding a thing he was saying. He didn't like being treated as just some dumb animal and not like the human he had grown up as.

Espir walked into the side entrance and immediately bumped into some human just resting by the open door, possibly taking a break from their shift. He locked eyes with the human, a tired-looking redheaded lady about the same age as his mother, and then slipped into the shadows before she had a chance to react.

From the shadows, he watched her take a moment to process what she had seen, and then take off running, rambling about ghosts. Considering they lived in a world of ghost-Pokémon, Espir wasn't sure how the fear of ghosts was managed. It couldn't be like his own world, where ghosts were only a myth and a sure sign of malcontent dead walking among the living. Some ghostly beings in this world were simply just like other Pokémon that you could catch and train; so why the fear?

Espir shrugged to himself as he slunk through the shadows, keeping out of sight and getting into the main part of the museum relatively easily now that he was within the building.

The main halls of the museum were amazing. Espir liked museums back when he was a human, even though he didn't have much opportunity to check many out. Simply knowing that the items stored within them had such a significant impact across history that they had to be kept on display for those in the future to also see their impact, amazed him. How many people had interacted with some of the oldest artifacts kept between these walls?

The floors were polished wood and all the furniture within the museum was old but incredibly well maintained. There were corridors upon corridors of various glass encased artifacts, as well as multiple sections that closely resembled a library, filled with everything from older scrolls, to books pertaining to just about anything historical that Espir could think of. It was a maze of knowledge and he needed to find out about one specific thing that he didn't know the name of.

Instead, Espir attempted a different approach. He decided to look into what a 'Mew' was. Perhaps there was some useful information about it in this museum, or about the other creature he might have seen. He could have sworn he saw something else in his memories, but that could have just been the pain of what he was going through at the time. Either Mew or this other being. Hopefully, he could gain some additional information on the way.

An entire afternoon of searching and little to nothing was shown for it. Espir knew that the information had to be in that museum somewhere, but he wasn't having any luck with it. Hours went by without even the slightest hint that a being called Mew even existed. It was a painful thing to admit someone wasn't in control of their own fate, but Espir had to accept it now. If he was going to learn about Mew, he would only be able to do it by playing Mew's game, or- and it was a very long shot indeed- by breaking it.

Defeated and dejected, Espir left the museum the same way he had entered. He skirted around the side of the building to get back to the front and, thankfully, the sun was beginning to set; which meant that there were more shadows to cling to.

Espir was so caught up in the random useless titbits of information he had learnt, he didn't even notice Alexis until he had almost walked directly into her. He looked up at the trainer and it was clear she had noticed him. She was standing at the entryway to the grounds of the museum, looking furious.

"I said we could go after meeting the family," Alexis said sternly, "but you left behind my back anyway?"

Espir didn't have the energy to feel or pretend to look ashamed. He knew he'd let down Alexis, but he felt justified in doing so.

"For that stunt," Alexis said, "we aren't coming back here until after I've got my second badge. Got it? Good. Now let's get back to my mother."

Espir slept underneath Alexis' bed that night. The room was clean, oddly clean, but Espir didn't complain. It only meant that he had more room to relax in the shadows. While lying under a bed would be cramped and uncomfortable, for a being as small as he now was, who could also melt into shadows, it was ideal. It was also the easiest place to sleep and avoid the frosty glare of Alexis.

...

...

...

Something was wrong. Why was something always wrong? For so long, everything had been in balance and she had been able to just rest calmly. She interacted one time and now everything was broken. What could possibly be wrong now?

Mew couldn't find the lost soul. She didn't mind as much as it was meant to happen anyway. What had been odd to her was how long it had taken the soul to pass on to its next calling. She had slowed the cracking of existence and done enough to fix much of it, but something was still keeping it from healing completely. She knew it had to do with the human she had tried to help, but she wasn't sure how. His body was meant to have died and he could just carry on living this new life.

It didn't appear to be possible, however. Something was breaking the universes and Mew had no idea how to fix it. With all her experience and time beyond time living, she was at a loss for how to proceed. She would need to observe more and hope that there was time enough to put the corrections in place once she had seen all there was for her to see.

She knew just where to begin.

...

...

...

It was certainly a change from Oreburgh's gym of rock and stone. Dark towering pillars were replaced with a huge, vine-covering dome atop one of many rolling hills. Likely due to the nature of Eterna City, all of the main landmarks appeared to have put extra effort into keeping the land well maintained and covered with plants. With the large Pokéball symbol denoting the gym, Espir and Alexis walked up to it that following morning. Neither had properly spoken to the other, as there was still a deep-rooted tension from how the previous day had ended.

Espir hoped that this animosity meant that Alexis would be more inclined to use Starly and Piplup for the battle to come, although he already knew he would have the best shot at defeating this gym. His fire-based attacks would be more effective against the plant-type favoring gym leader, Gardenia. Piplup was a water type, so he wouldn't be able to withstand Gardenia's entire team and Starly had a long way to go before she became effective in any battle, let alone one so important. He, Espir, would be the deciding factor.

The inside of the gym was large, open and bright. The arena was built into the ground and the chamber that made up the inside of the dome was large enough to easily fit a small forest inside, to form a border around the center arena. If it wasn't so beautiful and calming, Espir would have felt intimidated.

Instead, Espir followed Alexis towards the arena and then stood close by, behind her, as she challenged Gardenia.

"You're here for the Forest Badge, are you not?" Gardenia asked, while perched upon a low hanging branch of one of the larger trees.

"That's right," Alexis said, "I'm here for my second badge."

"Very well," Gardenia nodded, standing up and taking her place on the opposite end of the arena, "I hope you have fun, and don't get too hurt in the coming fight."

"Good luck to you, too," Alexis said, taking out a Pokéball.

"Oh, honey," Gardenia laughed, throwing out a Pokéball, "I don't need luck."

The red glow that Espir had become accustomed to shot out and released a small Pokémon. After Gardenia's confident statement, it was almost underwhelming. A Pokémon that closely resembled a large cherry than a being capable of fighting was standing out in front of Gardenia, waiting for Alexis to bring up her first fighter.

"Great," Alexis nodded, "that's got to be a bug Pokémon, so surely my Starly would be a perfect match up."

Espir wished he could intervene with her logic, but he was only a part of her team. On top of that, even if he could talk to her, it was unlikely she'd listen due to their current issues. Alexis released the Starly and the battle had begun.

"Use Quick Attack!" Alexis called out to the bird that was now hovering above their heads.

Espir approved of that choice. It was likely that Gardenia's Pokémon were all powerful enough to severely hurt Starly, so they had to get their damage in earlier rather than later.

The bird streaked down, rifling through the air. At the last second, Starly exposed its claws and scraped along the front of the cherry Pokémon, spraying blood from the cuts. Does that count as juice? Espir thought as he watched on from behind Alexis. He was just glad that he didn't have to participate in this current fight.

"Leafage," Gardenia shouted, "shoot that bird down!"

The Cherubi nodded and set itself in its position, lining up Starly as the bird circled around for another attacking attempt. As Starly began its second swooping maneuver, the Cherubi let loose, spraying out a flurry of razor sharp leaves towards the Starly. The Starly had to pull up out of the dive as the leaves caught it in the wings and across the face, cutting into its skin and peeling off both skin and feathers.

The Starly screeched as it retreated momentarily.

"Wing Attack," Alexis urged, "come on, you've got this."

The Starly nodded, determined, and turned to face the cherry once again. It puffed itself up and sprang back into the air. This time, Espir noticed, the emphasis was less on the speed it was flying at, and more on the power of the strike. The Starly swooped down and, due to it flying slower, was still under enough control to dodge out of the way of the leaves that span up to meet it. The Starly rolled to its right and then back again to its left, all the while getting closer and closer to the cherry. Finally, after dodging one last barrage, the Starly collided with the Cherubi, planting its wing right into the cherry's face. The already opened cuts burst out with even more blood as the impact squeezed the Cherubi, pushing it into the ground and into unconsciousness.

Gardenia recalled the Cherubi, frustrated, and the Starly returned to Alexis' side of the arena to await the next Pokémon. It looked quite banged up already, but both Alexis and Espir knew that Piplup was not the right Pokémon for a fight like this. Better to see how much Starly could take or put Espir in instead.

The next Pokémon to appear was sturdier than the Cherubi. A similar size to the cherry, but appearing more like a cross between a turtle and a tree stump, the Turtwig snapped its jaw in anticipation and started to trot across the field towards the Starly.

"Wing Attack again," Alexis called out, hoping that it would prove as potent as the last round. The Starly flew up into the air and started its circular flight pattern to gain some momentum behind the attack. The Turtwig stopped running, instead choosing to wait for the battle to come to it.

"Razor Leaf!" Gardenia called out as the Starly started its descent. Espir knew what would happen next. If leafage had been so destructive against the Starly, Razor Leaf, if it made contact, could be devastating.

The Turtwig, clearly a better aimer than the Cherubi, hit the Starly with its first attempt. Large leaves spiraled out in arcing curves towards the approaching bird, and they each collided with it from all angles. The sharp leaves cut deep and left huge dripping gash wounds across the Starly's body. The Starly was unconscious before the first barrage was even over. Its momentum carried it a little further, before it dropped down out of the air and crunched violently into the ground. One of its wings was bent at a weird angle from the impact and the Turtwig backed up a little to avoid stepping in the pooling blood.

Alexis quickly retracted Starly and took a momentary glance at Espir, before steeling her face and sending out Piplup.

Espir knew that it was a bad idea and, possibly, Alexis looked like she knew it too. Hopefully, Piplup wouldn't end up anywhere close to as injured as Starly or even he did after the last battle.

Piplup appeared and looked around, taking in the scenery and realization dawned upon his face. He looked back at Alexis, then saw Espir still up and standing behind her. If his face could mimic Alexis' at that moment, it got astonishingly close to doing so.

"You know what to do, Piplup," Alexis said, "Water Gun, Pound and do your best to avoid those leaves. Go get them!"

Piplup nodded and charged towards the Turtwig, which stood its ground and peppered the air with razor sharp leaves.

Espir wanted to say that Piplup put up a fight, but he didn't even make it half the distance to the green stumpy Pokémon. Piplup did a good job dodging the first few flurries, but as he got closer, the smaller cuts turned into larger slashes and he appeared to be deeply affected by each one. He was bloodied and unconscious before he could even get in range for a single Water Gun attack.

Alexis sighed. Espir knew that her decision was motivated to spite him, but she would blame herself tonight, no matter how the battle turned out. She held out Piplup's Pokéball and returned him too. Then, slowly, she turned her head to look at Espir. The frustration was gone. It was a mix between acceptance and despair now. Espir could even see tears in her eyes. She had been so swiftly and deeply affected by her decision. He couldn't help but pity her. He would do whatever he could to make sure she didn't have that expression on her face again. That started now.

Espir took a tentative step towards the arena, waiting for her permission.

Alexis didn't say anything, she only nodded her head slightly in the direction of the Turtwig, waiting happily to try and take out yet another Pokémon. Espir smiled. He would make that Turtwig regret messing with Alexis' team.

Espir bolted into action. Unlike the previous battle, he was entirely in the light this time, so he would have to be skilled in a different manner. He knew his fiery attacks would do the damage needed to take these Pokémon out, but he needed to get in close enough to make the most of them. Piplup might have had a chance to hurt Turtwig even a little, but could avoid the leaves. Espir knew he was ghostly, but after the previous battle, he also knew that he could still be hurt. Severely.

He rushed in a direct line towards Turtwig, running as fast as he could. As the leaves flowed towards him, he changed his direction. Not by a lot, but enough to keep getting closer to Turtwig and to force the Pokémon to alter his aim. Espir had noticed that when the others had tried to dodge the attacks, they had dodged the first wave, only to be hit by the second as they slowed down after the burst. Espir had no intention of slowing down until he was close enough to plant a flaming fist through Turtwig's face.

Gradually, he came closer and closer, eventually running rings around the Turtwig. Each circle spun tighter in and, finally, Espir reached out and grabbed the other Pokémon, lighting up his face and driving it into the Turtwig's back. He grabbed a hold of the sprouts growing out of the Turtwig's back, so that the other Pokémon couldn't twist to aim at him anymore. Then, he lit his arms up and began trying to set fire to the other Pokémon. This world had shown him just how brutal it was to fight in real life. Espir was about to show the world that he could be just as merciless.

The Turtwig dropped unconscious soon after the severe scorch marks were left upon its back. Gardenia's appalled expression told Espir exactly what she thought of the attack, but Espir didn't care. The Turtwig was still smoking slightly as she pulled it back within its Pokéball.

Two Pokémon on both sides, down. One to go.

Gardenia let loose a Roserade, which had to raise its bicolor bouquet limbs in defense against Espir who was on it immediately, raining down fists of flame. He didn't want to give it a chance to fight back even a little.

Espir was getting the upper hand. Espir was beginning to feel that same powerful confidence that he'd had when he first stepped foot into his dream world as an unbeatable trainer. It was intoxicating. He hoped he wouldn't get drunk on the power. Speaking of, he was feeling a little dizzy right now. Had he overexerted himself when defeating Roserade?

No, she was still standing. There was a spike protruding from one of her bouquets. It was dripping purple liquid.

Espir looked down to see a stinging wound on his side. In his attempts to finish the fight too quickly, he had been pierced by a Poison Sting and he must be just now feeling the effects of that overconfidence.

Espir needed to finish the fight quickly, or risk getting overcome by the poison that he could quickly feel burning and bubbling underneath his- well, what would be skin. Instead, he just felt it pumping around his body, replicating the feeling of fire lighting his insides up. Was that what the Roserade and Turtwig were feeling when he was hitting them? She definitely looked injured, but not out of the fight just yet.

Espir doubled down on the assault, lurching around through the pain, hoping to shrug off the poison long enough to win the fight. He had no idea if Alexis had anything to help with the poison, but she was too far away to help him anyways. It was down to him.

The Roserade moved in to attempt to stab him again but he was ready. He pretended to jerk forward for another fire attack and instead rolled with the attack from Roserade, tripping her and taking her down to the floor. Then, with the leverage, he lit up his fists and began his attack anew. Punch after flaming punch rained down on the grass Pokémon, but this time Espir was more than aware of any attempt to launch a counterattack. She, too, was smoking like the Turtwig by the time Espir had vented his frustrations upon her.

Perhaps, though he wouldn't admit it, even to himself, Espir was letting out his anger at the situation he found himself in and his lack of ability to find a way out. He didn't want to be a Pokémon forever. He wanted to get back to his family and all these battles just felt like pointless wastes of time against his true mission. It didn't matter in any case, the battle was won and the Roserade was defeated.

Gardenia recalled her Roserade and sighed, disappointment layered within her breath.

She set her eyes on Alexis and began to walk across the arena to go and congratulate the trainer on her victory. Espir could see the glint in Gardenia's hand as they both made their way over to Alexis, who was jogging over to meet them.

"Congratulations," Gardenia said in a flat tone, "your Pokémon is vicious, but that doesn't mean you didn't fairly win this. Here is your Forest Badge."

Espir looked up at Alexis and she looked from the badge, down to the Pokémon that earned it for her; and she smiled.