Location: Lively Town Plaza
Date: July 12th

Well, I didn't even get a chance to talk to Lyra about the deal Ampharos and I made because we were both exhausted and passed out after returning to our rooms. I also didn't get a chance this morning because Archen came squawking into our room, saying Ampharos called a mandatory early-morning meeting.

Ugh. Lyra and I were still all groggy and tired by the time we dragged ourselves into the main room. From the dull blue of the outside world, the sun hadn't even risen yet. What could be so urgent that we had to be woke up like that? They've never done that before...

Well, turns out they had a good reason. The victims of the stone incidents received warnings before they were targeted. Apparently, Latios and Latias received warnings as well. Their home was on the Grass Continent, so for us to find them on the Air Continent meant that they fled from their attacker.

However, Latios and Latias are legendary Pokémon. For their foe to scare them into fleeing...what kind of being are we dealing with here? Moreover, how does Ampharos expect normal Pokémon like us to apprehend such a being? What the hell does our adversary have to fear if they're making legends quake in fear?

And the warnings they issued...obviously a taunt or challenge, which spoke to their ego. Or maybe they were trying to bait more people into watching so they could also become victims.

Ampharos explained that the Society's been following these cases for some time now. They can't be ignored if we want to preserve peace. The culprit is still out there somewhere. Whether or not it's a Pokémon or something else entirely remains to be seen. So, he decided that the Society should redirect its focus onto this case. He'd previously assigned the task to Archen and Buizel, so now Bunnelby and Mawile had to join them. As for us, he wanted us to continue with our usual work.

Ba-scuuuuse me? Did he not just say that the Society should redirect its focus onto this case? Are we not part of the Society?

Lyra spoke up, stating that we could help with those incidents, too.

Ampharos said that the creation of the World Map is also of great importance. Given how rumors of the stone incidents keep spreading in the town plaza, we should report any information we come across to Dedenne.

I think that's bullshit. The dude obviously doesn't want us involved, so he's making us do busy work to keep our mind off the more important investigations the others are doing. This isn't the time to be making the World Map, this is the time to muster our forces and bring an end to this terror that's plaguing this world. Need I remind him of what happened to the folks at Citruse Village? Do those who lost their families care about us making the World Map? No! At least let us investigate Cold Snap!

Hm...however, my feelings don't seem to sync up with Lyra's. She's perfectly happy continuing our normal work despite the obvious investigation we should be a part of. It's not like we haven't proven ourselves by now, right? We harnessed the power in our harmony scarves and beat Entei. What else does Ampharos want from us? Or...perhaps this is a punishment for me hanging out with Eris yesterday. The two of them seem like they're rivals, so maybe this is his way of telling me to stop that?

Well, it's not like we're the only ones he assigned busy work to. He put Jirachi on his normal routine of studying the stars – a job he also thought was critical.

I just...I dunno. This whole thing doesn't seem right.

Location: Home, Bedroom

After talking so much about the stone incidents, we knew when we got a rescue mission from Virizion for her friend Keldeo that we had to go. Virizion and Keldeo are both legendary Pokémon, I think. Having them as our allies was not only helpful, but reassuring. Every day they were available for expeditions meant they weren't victims.

The expedition itself was uneventful, along with the rest of today. However, I finally decided to come clean to Lyra after dinner.

Once we returned to our room, I said I had a confession to make. I asked her if she remembered the night I ran off onto the roof, and Lyra said yes. She then...described the events leading up to that, as well as the brief things Ampharos and I talked about pertaining to my lack of Pokémon instincts. I said that wasn't all Ampharos and I talked about.

I told her I really enjoyed exploring with her before we arrived at Lively Town. We were free, unshackled and the world was ours to discover and traverse and it was so cool and liberating and...uh...I was rambling. Point was, I enjoyed it so much that I felt disappointed when we arrived at Lively Town. I knew her dream was to join the Expedition Society and make the World Map, so I didn't say anything at the time. Ampharos said we were free to explore alongside doing our expedition work, so he didn't see what the problem was.

However, our expeditions got in the way of enjoying that freedom. We can't explore newly discovered Mystery Dungeons and raise our Society rank at the same time. We have to return to old dungeons to do rescue missions and grind up points, and...that's not what I want to do. But in addition to free exploration, I wanted to stay by Lyra's side as well. So...I was at an impasse.

Lyra was sitting on her hay bed and looking down. She looked...honestly, I couldn't tell if she was thoughtful or perturbed. I continued.

Since coming here was Lyra's dream and we worked so hard for this, I didn't want to straight-up leave. Ampharos proposed that I give this expedition thing a year and see how things fared. If I didn't enjoy my time here, I'd leave. If I did, I'd stay. So...I agreed, and we made it a deal.

After being silent for a bit, Lyra asked if I was telling her this because I wanted her to leave with me, and I said no. I couldn't make her do that, and I'd never expect her to. I wanted to tell her because...we're best friends, and we shouldn't keep secrets from each other. I'd meant to tell her sooner, but with everything escalating like it was...

"Yeah, I know. We heard about the stone incidents in Serene Village, but to learn there's a horrible Pokémon attacking villages alongside them..."

She sighed and thanked me for telling her. She...didn't want me to leave, but she didn't want to keep me from doing what I love. Especially not after we worked so hard for her to do the same.

I smiled and rested one of my vines on her head. I promised her I'd visit often, and we could exchange tales of our adventures. I told her she'd be alright. She's so much stronger and talented than she thought. And after seeing her evolve into a Blaziken, I had no doubt she'd be an unstoppable force someday. When we evolve permanently, we'll have to spar sometime.

She smiled at that, but still only huffed another sigh in response. I guess she felt as conflicted about me leaving as I felt about staying. I...told her we didn't have to worry about it now. By the time it became pertinent, this whole stone thing will be taken care of.

"Don't you mean 'hopefully, it will be taken care of'? That sounds a little more like you."

Aw, now that hurt. Did she really think that little of the Evergreens? Of course we'd have it solved in a year. Who did she think we were? Pancham and Shelmet? Get your silliness out of my bedroom, you Miltank.

Ahaha, that made her laugh and brought that adorable sparkle back in her eye. She playfully bopped my shoulder with her head, and we were goofing around and giggling and acting like idiots when Lyra eventually fell asleep.

I'm glad our talk went well. I'd been afraid it would spark a fight between us, primarily from our disagreement of what's more important – rescue missions or freedom. After all, it'd been that very conflict that drove a wedge between Ampharos and Eris, among other things.

But Lyra had kinda answered that very question tonight. Neither are more important because friendship matters most. Whether you're exploring or rescuing others, you should always have someone close to rely on. Ampharos had the Society, while Eris had Dotty...and surely other friends she met in her travels. And really, did it ultimately matter which one the other chose? It's their life. They should be the ones to decide what they want to do with it. Even if they didn't agree, they still cared about one another, right? They could agree that both were important, so why did it matter which was most important? It didn't.

I know Lyra sees expedition work as most important, just as I'm sure she knows I see exploration as most important. However, that topic never came up tonight. Tonight wasn't about that, it was about our future together.

This...yes. Yes. I want to remember tonight. What entry is this? I'll go back and count all my other entries and make a mark around this entry number, so I don't forget. Lyra showed her genius tonight in her own simple and beautiful way. Maybe she didn't intend to, but that's alright.

She's the best little accidental genius, and I love her.