So Ended the Annals of How The Plates Were Taken From Arceus;

And how the Quest of the Golden Company was fulfilled.

Now Begins the Annals of the War of Wrath;

And the Binding Of The Evil Djinn, by The Rorians and Hisuians of Old;

And the Beginning Of The Two Thousand Year Peace of the Earth.

Let No Mouth Open to Gainsay It.

.

.

.

One year later...

.

Rei beheld the ships upon coming out of the Southern Sea, fair and wide, a friendly maritime wind blowing from the uttermost heats of the South inthe distant fire-mountains and scorched deserts and dells within unknown lands. The southern coast of Hisui lay nary six leagues from Jubilife Town, and the farsighted could espy the Great Sea on a clear day, and it was said that the glinting of the Naryana, Mount Chimney in Hoenn, might be seen.

From the past month of Mattare, ships had sailed proudly about the coats and firths near Hisui, water rippling in the Sea. First espied by the poor-fisher folk that dwelt at the mouths of the River Gwaithion, they had been heralded and sent to port. Frantic messengers came flying into the gates of Jubilife, bringing the Elders and folk of great renown to their summons by Tol Valaquenta, Prelude Beach.

A great craft hewed of strange timbers bearing the white flag of peace raised high did come to port, and two messengers clad in circlets of mail with a Pokemon of unknown likeness came to greet those assembled and said that they had come from a faraway land with goodwill and many gifts. They explained that there were mariners of a great South-kingdom, and wished for council with the leaders of the land to debate their requests for aid and pardon.

Kamado and the other Elders were summoned, and many other folk, including Rei and Akari and the other members of the Golden Company who had long since dwelt in peace. When the day of meeting came, tall, proud ships came from the south, and smaller coracles brought the strangers to shore. Their prows shone like burnished gold, and its huge white sides were like fallen snow in the northlands.

The folk from southern lands were very tall, taller than the tallest of the sons and daughters of the north, with swarthy skin and Pokémon that no one had yet beheld in Hisui or other lands. They were armored with chained rings and shields scored with runes, with golden habergeons and arrows shorn of finest ebony. In the panoply of ancient kings they dressed, with fine boots of emerald hue and cloaks of magic to ward away harm. They did not bear any arms upon their bodice or chalcedony scabbards unless their Pokémon were concealing their inner battle prowess for the sake of the Hisuians.

A man in dark green who was the admiral of the fleet knelt upon his girded knee before Kamado with honor, and all his followers did so as well. "Blessed be you, and the mother that nursed you, folk of blessed Easternesse! We have come here over northern strands and shadowy seas, moved by a shadow of a dream from distant lands, to seek your aid in our darkest hour. For we are the foes of the Mbelekoro, if that name brings dread to you."

Kamado curtly nodded in nobility and then asked his own questions of the sea-men. "I do believe that you come without ill will. But I am without knowledge of how we speak of the same tongue, as you come from a very far away land, beyond even the furthest south of Hoenn that our ships have not yet crossed over, or the gnashing of the Northern Frosts, where shadow lies on frozen hills. We know not of you or your Pokemon, and your flags and sigils are unknown to our eyes. Let us go in private, and perhaps we shall come to an answer for both our sakes befitting the council of the wise."

...

Kamado and the other Elders made council in the Tent of Worship, while three of the sea-folk entered the white canopy. One was the admiral of the fleet that had spoken a bit ago, the second was a doughty warrior with a Sawk and Throh at his command, leaving a dark-skinned southron with a fine reed flute upon his linen robe as the third mariner present. The members of the Golden Company were there, with Rei's father. The Legend Plate, unrevealed as of yet to the strangers, was still on Rei's person, as he always carried it on himself whenever he might.

Adaman once had tested if the Plate could be stolen by force from its current chosen owner, and against Rei or Kamado's council he did so. His grievous burns took a month to fully heal even by the health and vigor of the Hisuian race, and the Plate returned to Rei immediately once it had been taken, disappearing and reappearing in Rei's pocket with a crack if he had one. The curious Plate would appear on his bed or house mantle whenever Rei himself could not hold it on his bodice.

As soon as everybody had settled without further entry to the Tent by more Hisuian nobles, the admiral stated his business. "I am Admiral Berothim of the Logarian Navy, and I have sailed in the Great Sea for two months and four days, aided by fair Pokemon, to reach the land of Hisui in the uttermost northlands, of which only legend spoke. But our king, Tar-Ardunakor of the City of Caves woke from a fitful dream a while ago before we set sail from our white havens. He saw troubling things in the sudden assault of the dream, and I will now tell of what it was..."

Iridia interrupted the admiral as he began his long tale. "I will cast aside the formality that is due to friendly guests, as you have not told us many things that would be expected of us to know before this debate begins. Who do you serve, and where do you hail from? Where is this Logaria, and is it a land of good or ill? What dealings do you have with the Enemy, to ally with him or not? There are servants of the Mbelekoro in many lands, not Hisui alone."

The southern warrior beside Berothrim stood in wrath. "If the woman suggests that we ally with the Dark One, then I would not be so merry in this place! Nay, we have hated the Enemy since our founding, and many oaths of power we have sworn against him. We of Logaria, in Roria in the Nether Heats of the South, have fought the great hordes of the Evil Djinn that hail from the Land of Shadowy Horror for many cycles beyond remembrance to mortal Men or Pokemon. If you do not know, there are many thralls of the Evil One that you Northmen do not stay, and that your bright swords and warriors have overlooked!"

Berothrim gave the warrior a stern glance. "Artherim, if I thought that you would be so impolite in the place where we might find great aid, then I may have kept you on the ship where we might be rid of your folly! But he speaks true, if not in a polite tongue. We of Logaria dwell in the land of Roria, in the far south. We have kept the Darkness in check for time immemorial, and we fight against the flesh and blood servants of the Evil One that issue from his limitless pits. We are a mighty empire, and we have been blessed by the Original One for our great deeds against the Enemy. Our people have life and strength beyond that of lesser men, and we are many."

Kamado was in awe. "You serve the Original One and speak aloud our tongue! What a friend we have found, and I see now that all our allies yet unknown come to us lest we be destroyed. But we have little in the way of arms or folk, (for the Hisuians multiply slowly) and we do not govern by a king. We were warned by our prophets long ago that he would be more oppressive than anyone else that would rule over us, and we are content with the Original One being our lord. So, what want do you have with us in Hisui, in Easternesse long diminished?"

As Kamado spoke, Rei remembered something very out of place, but it could have something to do with these strangers, these Rorians and Logarians from the Southern Heats. In the very dream that he dreamt a year ago, he had seen a great armament go to war with the Enemy in a great struggle at the end of the Age. If these strangers were truly a mighty force, then they might be what he had foreseen so long ago.

"As I was to say," Berothrim said. "Our king had a troubling dream. In it, he saw a mountain fall into ruin, and then fire spread from the Land of Shadowy Horror, the everlasting domain of the Enemy which we contend with. The world was consumed, and a new creation in the name of the Enemy had arisen in its place, of which we shall not speak here. Then in the north, a voice amid growing thunder, remote but clear, said as follows:

"Seek the One who bears the Plate,"

"In Easternesse it dwells,"

"There shall counsels be made,"

"Stronger than Mbelekoro-spells,"

"And end the Enemy and his many thralls,"

"To burn the shadowy halls."

"There shall be shown a token,"

"That Doom is near at hand."

"Let chains be bound and Dark Lords sealed,"

"Ere this marred world is healed."

"And then our lord awoke with a start. He consulted an Elohim of light who is called Celebi in the tongue of the Johtorhim, and our other Seers found no falsehood in the vision. We trusted our great king, and other signs made us wish to hurry for aid in this strange land of Hisui. Logaria is growing in strength by the hour, but so does the Enemy in his dark towers."

"We have been fighting against the Enemy and his slaves for years uncountable on our northern borders, great battles of which you may have little knowledge, where mighty kings fell and heroes slew to the last. They come from the Dor Daedeloth, the Land of Shadowy Horror in the north. It is an unnatural land, upheaved by the immense conflict between Kyogre and Groudon at the end of the Elder Days. The Dark Lord had made the entirety of the black land his fastness, although his power had been diminished for a time after the Battle of Rushing Flame."

"But in recent months, our enemies are growing in strength. Maggot-creatures crawl out of holes without light or hope, adding to endless hosts that amass in the dark plain of Gelien. The power of the Enemy grows, and the fiery mountains have spewed smoke for the first time in a long while since the Rushing Flame. The Tapu of the Alolan Islands grow restless, and they repel strange creatures daily that are neither beast nor Pokemon." The dark-skinned man stirred, but did not speak.

"The darkness grows, and a foul wind comes from the Dor Daedeloth. The true threat we only learned of five months ago. Some wild men came from Nuria further south in the deserts, and we slew them, for we were many and their arms and Pokemon few. But then we perceived a great and terrible shadow coming from the remnants, and we fled out of terror. A power was there that we had not felt before. Whenever it came madness filled our foes, but fear fell on our boldest so that Pokemon and Men gave way and fled. The Enemy had returned in presence, come back to his greatest stronghold of power in the Land of Shadowy Horror. The Evil One has risen after a stay, and we are now hard beset."

Rei asked the admiral something that had long lain upon his thought. "Sir, if you were to muster all the men and strong lads able to fight, including the Pokemon, what would that number amount to?"

"Fifteen million, if our last census is correct," Berothrim said. "For in Logaria we multiply quicker and with more vigor than any other race of Men or Pokemon."

So it was true! Rei nodded in assent and remained silent.

Kamado remained wary but new hope was kindled in his heart. "I trust that you are honest folk from a fair land since you took the Vow and have not dared to break it in the Tent of Worship. But I have misgivings about what the lines in the dream said. Seek the one who bears the Plate, if my hearing has not wholly left me. We have this Plate and we know what it is you seek, but for what end would it be used? To bind the Evil Djinn, as the vision said? Is this why you have come to us, for you wish to do such a thing? I say it is impossible to do of our own accord."

Berothrim stood, and hold up a feather of silver woven, gleaming and flickering in the light of the tent. "This is a piece of down that was taken from the Elohim Lugia, the Weeper in the common tongue. It could ensnare many with its power if crafted into a weave. This was our only thing of interest, and we do not know if you have any art that can use to forge such a cunning prison. Even so, it would only be a weave, not a bottle or vessel that could contain the evil of the Enemy."

Laventon shot into action and stood with a start. "Master Berothrim, you look upon a man of science who has learned to do such a thing!" Laventon showed the admiral one of his Capture Balls.

"What is this?" the Alolan said. "And how does it function?"

"I make these devices by taking an Apricorn fruit, and then carving it out and mixing it with the fair vats of morning dew that drip from the Apricorn trees. For the mixture can be crafted into a thin net, and put inside the remnant of the hollowed Apricorn. It will open and close if I attach an Aurgurite to the front that I find in the wide Obsidian Fieldlands far north of here. Then, it can contain any Pokemon by diminishing it to a smaller size, and such they might be carried around in a pocket."

"Such things are unheard of in Southernesse," Berothrim said. "Such a craft has eluded us. If you may weave the feather into such a net, perhaps our hope may not fail. We are without a bottle, although if the Original One is with us, then we are to triumph in the bitter end."

This seemed satisfactory to all, and hope was renewed, but Adaman laughed in scorn. "A bottle! Of course, a bottle! Can you grasp the Enemy by the shoulders and seal him in one? Surely you can! Can you break his greatest fortresses to reach him? Of course! How is it that he may be contained? And if such a thing could be done, what would we do with the prison?"

Artherim stood, and his breath was like the hiss of snakes in his anger. "If we craft such a prison for him, he will flee in terror to his deepest pits. If we safeguard it and keep it ever-ready, then he will have no rest, and will not move against us, even as we amass greater strength. For the Enemy thinks in terms of metal and war, of gears and machines. If we have such a weapon he will only think that it will be used against him, and although he will continue to amass his strength, soon his power and what little majesty remains will be spent dominating inferiors."

Taking little heed to his words, Adaman was amused. "Keep him at bay, like a starving whelp that cannot get a meal from its cruel master? If it is surety that you crave, let it be known that the Enemy gives none! He will know that he cannot be harmed by us, and although he might give your empire heed, all other lands of the Free Peoples are diminished in strength. The only method of entrapment would fail, except if we had aid from the Original One, or one of his servants. And as I have said, what would we do with such a thing? Should we cast it into the sea or earth? Nay, for the fashion of the world might change, and it would be found by those who wish to free the Enemy if he does not break it from within."

"Why are you so bitter, Adaman?" Cyllene asked. "Do these men not hail from a land that has fought the Mbelekoro for many generations? They have knowledge of his ways that may be greater than ours."

Clasping his hands in front of him, Adaman looked far wearier than Rei had ever seen the great lord. He came from a long-lived line, and the people of Hisui aged well into their three-hundreds, but he looked as tired and broken as an old man in his sixty years that appeared as twenty years in the Men of lesser bloodlines.

"If I must say, you may win in battle for a time. But against this power that rises yet again, there is no victory. The days of Men and Pokemon are fading. We have prevented his wiles in the Ered Engrin, but he rises again and will cover all the lands in another great darkness, and this shall last for ever. We did not have any knowledge of this land of Roria, nor any of the Enemy's doing in the southern heats; now we do but my dread is not eased. He will devour all the lands. I have foreseen it in my heart. The power of Light is failing, and soon he will rush out like a black tide with all his slaves, and put to ruin all the free kingdoms of Men."

There was a period of silence. The long journey of the Logarians seemed to come to naught, and hope fell. A shadow of disquiet seemed to come over the counsel, for it seemed as though the things of which Adaman had spoken of had been hidden from the hearts of all until then, and they remembered their deadly peril and bliss passed.

Rei then yelled, and cast the Legend Plate to the ground in pain; for it had burned him as he touched it. Then the loudest, piercing, and most incredible howl came out of the Plate with such force that it seemed as though it would destroy the tent in a tempest of sheer wrath and rend apart the blue sky.

"WHO ARE YOU TO NULLIFY WHAT I HAVE DONE?"

Then the Plate vanished from sight, and Rei felt it in his pocket again. The council stood and began to debate in new fire once more.

Rei could sense what it meant, and it was truly a weighty statement. Arceus had given its power to make this Plate. Furthermore, it reconciled everything on Earth with it, being in the form of a creature of flesh. No one now was truly gone, even those Arceus had condemned in the past. It had come at a terrible cost, as Arceus, not the Original One, would loath humanity ever after until the evil that had been done was amended. If this was the way that the Original One wished for the Enemy to be defeated, then all must concede the decision to He who is above Fallibility.

With no hesitation in his mind about who the Plate-bearer was, Berothrim asked how Rei had obtained the Legend Plate, what scheme of the Evil Djinn that the Golden Company had thwarted in the North yet left untold. Rei's father and Cogita told all present the tale, actually not at all displeased. They gave a full account of the adventure and did not omit a single song. Once they had finished, the sun was now high above, from the morning that they had begun to assemble in.

"So, the Evil One has been active in the Far North, as well, and we have found He who bears the Plate," Artherim said. "The fates of our nations are intertwined. We speak the same tongue and give homage to the same Creator, yet we have not ever heard of each other except for old tales that came from beyond mind and memory. What a troubled age this is! In the North, madmen, and bandits run about, and Dark Lords sit upon Iron Thrones in lonely mountains. In the south, hordes of half-men assemble in the wastes, and the Enemy has taken form again and pours his spirit into his thralls. The wilds and jungles are not safe. Many a death has been caused by a Gengar, leeching life in the shadows. The birds of the air are spies for the Evil One. Even some of the trees have taken sides; it seems that all beings are divided in these days. What are we to do?"

Laventon had been fingering the silver feather for the entire duration of the tale and did not bring good tidings. "This feather...it is so fine that I could not weave it, even with the most deft spinning wheels and tools that I possess or could make in Hisui. For that, I would need some other piece of down, of a different quality."

Berothrim understood what Laventon was suggesting. "The other feather that you would need for a perfect union would be from the Lord of Many Colors, Ho-Oh. The two are meant to be joined, but one will suffice. At Logaria, we have the most advanced weaving art in the wide world, but we lacked the knowledge to put it to use in this dire hour. If you are a man of science, then the equipment that we can provide will suffice. But we would need to journey back to Logaria over two months, and we would yet be without a bottle."

And the council continued, but not all that was spoken and debated need now be told. Much was said of the world outside Hisui, especially in the South and the wide lands west of Johto. Of these things the Hisuians had already heard many rumors, but the tales of the Logathrim's many battles against the Enemy were new to him, but Iscan had kept a memory of the Southmen's lore that his clan had brought from far Alola.

"We must consult the stones," Kamado said at length in the council. "Enough has been said and learned, although still more might yet be revealed of Logaria, Suthernesse. We must know if the Original One has a say in this matter, as defeating the Mbelekoro for ever would have a bearing in all lands and peoples, not just our kindreds."

Urim and Thummim were brought out with the proper rituals and an explanation was given to the Logarians of their functions to great marvel, and Kamado asked an objective question. "Should we journey across the Great Sea to Logaria, and create a prison for the Evil Djinn with whatever Fate is to bring?"

White.

Yes.

"It is settled, then," Kamado cried as the entire assembly burst into a cheery We will go across the Great Sea, into the far southern heats to put an end to the reign of the Enemy for ever! I declare the Fellowship-I am sorry, the Golden Company reformed anew!"