Location: Gentle Slope Cave (writing as we blast through this area, much easier than it was our first time through)
Date: Not gonna bother. Highly doubt any remaining folks have been paying attention to the number of passing days since this crisis began, so there's no point in stressing over it. Currently morning. I think.
We...kinda had the wind taken out of our sails when we arrived at Serene Village and found it empty.
Well, correction, we found the plaza empty. It was horrifying, certainly. The village had never been so quiet during the day! I...I had a hard time believing that everyone had been turned to stone, but I wasn't brave enough to find out.
Neither was Lyra. She admitted she was worried...like, really, really scared-to-death worried. She didn't know what happened to her Pops, where he was or whether he was okay or not. However, if she went to find him...she didn't think she'd be able to keep going down the path we started down. She couldn't stop now.
We couldn't stop now.
It's not just Serene Village that we need to save, it's the whole world! So...so, I cocooned my little bird friend with my vines and hugged her against me, then I placed her on my back and we left the village.
"Your old pops will be just fine. Have you met his daughter? Pff, ain't nothing that guy can't handle."
Awhaww, that made her giggle all cutesy-like. There's my little Lyra Star.
Location: Home, Ampharos's Room (the next day)
As we made our way towards town, the morning sun really beamed down on us. It even looked bigger in the sky! It was too warm to keep Lyra on my back, but despite the rest, she was panting by the time we arrived at Lively Town.
And the sight there was worse than in Serene Village. Least the village looked empty, but the town was chock full of statue Pokémon! Miltank, Nosepass, Murkrow, Krokorok...it was so freaking quiet, too.
Jeez...I...I still can't understand...I don't...fuck's sake...Nuzleaf...
This is all levels of messed up.
We rushed off to the Expedition Society Headquarters, and immediately discovered Swirlix at the front entrance. She was a stone statue and was about one foot away from a boxful of Perfect Apples. She wasn't running from an enemy Pokémon or anything. She was just eating, and they attacked her...
Fuck...we never reunited with her in the Voidlands. Was she...sh-she had to be okay, right? I'm...I'm sure she's fine. She is.
Well, getting into the Society building wasn't...uh...easy. Remember that nightmare I had before with the fleshy hay beds? Well, apparently someone told Eris about it because she constructed an illusion where a giant one of those fleshy things was plastered on the double doors like a giant wad of gum with a huge mouth. Oddly enough, the flesh monster had excellent dental hygiene.
How do I know this monstrosity was Eris's creation, you ask? Because for us to gain passage, we had to answer three Eris-related questions correctly. Who else could've made it?
Apparently, the raspy-voiced monster wasn't very good at constructing questions.
Question 1: What differentiates Eris from a normal Zoroark?
I asked Lyra if she'd ever seen a "normal" Zoroark before, and she asked what a Zoroark is. I told her it's Eris's species of Pokémon.
"Ohh...yeah, no. Never seen one besides her."
The monster was confused, saying we should've encountered at least one in our travels. He told us to open up or Expedition Society Gadget, but I told him his question was bogus because he was making assumptions about our explorations. I demanded a different question.
Question two: How tall is Eris?
I used my vine to approximate how tall she was compared to us, but the fleshy wall monster wasn't satisfied with that.
"No! You have to use exact number measurements!"
Lyra pointed out that we don't know what unit of measurement he wanted us to use though. Different regions use different units, and it's not like we had a measurement plank next to Eris the last time we saw her, so...
"The units don't matter! And it's not called a 'measurement plank', it's called a-"
But the units do matter because our answer's gonna be different depending on what he wanted. Someone who's 4-feet tall would be 48 inches, for example. Two different answers meaning the same thing, but they aren't the same answer. What if he wanted the answer in meters? Ooh, or kilometers?
"Uuuugh! It doesn't matter!"
Hm. I told him he needed to construct better questions.
Question three: What color are Eris's eyes?
Oh! An easy one! They're gold, right? Then Lyra chipped in.
"Wait, no. That's not correct. They're yellow."
Isn't that the same thing?
"No, no. Gold is like...they're different."
Yellow is yellow, regardless of what name you give it. Flesh monster, you're with me on this, right?
"I'm afraid you're wrong on this one. Gold is slightly more red than yellow. Even its hex code is different."
Hex code? Isn't that the number used to identify colors on like techy programs or whatever?
"Yes. Gold's hex code is #FFD700 whereas yellow's is #FFFF00. They aren't the same color."
Wow! You sure know your hex codes. Are you an artist or something?
"Of a sort. I always wanted to be an artist, but couldn't on account of being a fleshy wall monster, so instead I became a door ornament guardian thing. I found stuff online about hex codes and had the auto-assist read it back to me and I found it super interesting."
Oh, that is super interesting! So, if you had eyes, arms, and hands, what kinda art do you think you'd make?
"Lately, I've been into abs-"
Then Lyra cut our conversation short, asking if we could please focus on the task at hand. Right. So, did we answer correctly?
"I dunno. Which answer do you wanna submit as your final – oh, to Hell with it. You can come in."
As the doors creaked open and we entered, the door monster introduced itself as Steven the artistic fleshy wall monster. Ah, I introduced myself and Lyra, and Steven said he'd love to talk more about hex codes, color differences, and artsy stuff once all this ended. Assuming Eris allowed him to exist that long.
Huh. Made a new friend.
Once we entered the main room, Lyra called out for Ampharos and Eris, only to startle the...vendor Pokémon? They were alright!
Kecleon said we scared him half to death. They thought they were being attacked again! I apologized for the sudden outburst. We didn't think anyone was left.
Hawlucha explained that the town was attacked by Yveltal, and he sent out a warning to the whole world claiming that all Pokémon would be sent to the void. When they first heard the warning, they didn't understand a thing. When Yveltal started turning Pokémon to stone left and right, the Society opened its doors for evacuation and the town vendors made it out.
So, that Yveltal douche who attacked us on Revelation Mountain...of course. Of course! What Pokémon would've been strong enough to petrify legendary Pokémon but another legendary? The fact that he could fly explained how he got to Latios and Latias. But then...the ancient texts said Dark Matter was involved in turning Pokémon to stone. How did that tie into Nuzleaf and Yveltal...?
Hawlucha said legendary Pokémon have been trying to defeat Yveltal, but to no avail. They just ended up being his victims as well.
Lyra admitted there was no way we could defeat him if other legendaries couldn't, but even so we were going to find a way. And we're gonna find a way to save those who've been turned to stone, too. No matter what.
Silence fell over the room. I rose an eyebrow at them and asked what their deal was, and Hawlucha said he was just surprised. He never thought they would have to be cheered up by a couple of children.
...
Seriously? We're still...even now, they wanna look down on us because...
Alright. Y'know what? Fuck this. I stepped forward and gave them a piece of my mind.
"You 'adults' are some of the most incompetent pieces of shit I have ever seen! This entire time I've been patiently playing the role of the obedient child and look where that's landed us. Instead of looking down your noses at 'a couple of children', look at us as your damn equals for once! Get your acts together!"
That was uh...effective. Nobody really expected me to raise my voice, so it shocked them enough to jostle them out of their hopelessness.
Kecleon said something to the effective of, "It really is the quiet ones with the hottest tempers. Just like Eris, I suppose."
Klefki chipped in, asking what Ampharos would think if he walked in and heard me say that.
Wait, so Ampharos did make it!?
Kecleon said he and Jirachi have either been holed up in their rooms or constantly leaving and returning to find answers for this problem. Eris has been out a lot too, usually holing up in Mawile's room when she returned.
The vendors said something about setting up shop in the main room, but I didn't hear beyond that because I took off for Mawile's room...but it was empty.
Aww...so much for checking on her.
After Lyra caught up with me, we raced off to Ampharos's room. He wasn't there, but Espurr was!
We were so glad to see Espurr was alright, but she was more relieved to see us! She got so worked up she broke down crying. Poor thing...we ran over and group hugged and it was...honestly, it was really nice. We didn't see the fate of the other kids, so knowing Espurr was okay...that was a blessing.
Once she calmed down, she explained how she saw us getting turned to stone. She knew we wanted her to stay in the village, but...she couldn't help herself. She was worried, so she followed us in secret and watched from afar as we were turned to stone right before her eyes.
Hmm...I told her that was incredibly foolish and dangerous. What if she'd been spotted? She was fortunate the Beheeyem weren't around, or she would've been targeted as well. But y'know...I couldn't be too hard on her. Not like we haven't done our fair share of foolish and dangerous things.
Espurr apologized. She didn't mean to worry us, but it didn't feel right just letting us go it alone. How did we even return from getting turned to stone in the first place? She didn't know that was possible.
Lyra admitted that it wasn't easy. As she told Espurr of our time in the Voidlands, I kept looking between the two. There was something...remarkably different about Lyra.
When I first started attending classes at the Serene Village School, I didn't think much of her. Just some energetic kid who annoyed everyone. Back then, I looked between Espurr and Lyra and all I saw were two kids. Obviously, they didn't look the same since they were different species, but they were otherwise no different than, say, Pancham and Shelmet. Just kids.
I mean, maybe I didn't notice before because I'm always with her, but Lyra really has grown up a lot. If Espurr represented what we were like as kids, then we really have come a long way. Makes sense I wouldn't have noticed it without her standing right next to Lyra. And if Lyra looked that much more grown-up, I wonder how I look...
After Lyra told her our story, Espurr offered an apology for what a terrible time we've had. Lyra dismissed it, asking how she ended up here to begin with. Espurr explained that she was asked to come and help by Ampharos. Lyra asked where he was, and Espurr said he'd gone out. She repeated what the vendors told us about Ampharos, Jirachi, and Eris going out constantly in search for answers.
She acts like a replacement Dedenne, using her telepathy to keep them in touch with each other. Well...she uses her telepathy for Jirachi and Ampharos, but due to Eris being dark-type, Ampharos gave them old-school communication devices to relay brief messages with. Because of that role, she gleaned information about Dark Matter from their talks, and what was going on in the world.
Then...Lyra dropped the ball. She asked Espurr about what happened at Serene Village, and the poor kid...
Fuck's sake, why did we need that knowledge dumped on us? Why did Lyra have to ask?
Yes, our worst fears were realized. They were ALL turned to stone.
Lyra started getting so choked up and trembling. Even her old pops...she suddenly called out for Pops before running out of the room.
I...Lyra...dammit...
Espurr started blaming herself, but I told her not to. It'll be fine. Lyra decided in Serene Village that she wouldn't think of just him. It's the whole world that needs help now, right?
She'll come back. She won't give up. She can't.
Espurr trusted my words, hoping I was right. We decided to take a break. While I waited for Lyra, I decided to do some writing. As I'm wrapping up this entry, Espurr's chatting away about how Dark Matter's grown significantly and how we don't have a lotta time left before-
Oh! What was that!?