Leeana had stopped her painting when she realized Ri and Gibbs were being uncharacteristically quiet. Even with Ishana sleeping, it seemed as though something was off.

"You and Gibbs have been quiet," Leeana whispered to Ri. Ri looked around for a moment, then looked at Leeana.

"I don't know where Gibbs is." There was panic in the Riolu's voice when she noted the absence of her Gible friend. Leeana scanned her room. Sleeping Ishana on her dresser, Ri sitting on her bed, herself at her desk.

"When did you last see him?"

"He went outside to use the bathroom, but, you know, he was talking about how he saw something by the entrance to Agata Forest." Ri's voice raised with fear. Ishana stirred, then sat up.

"Is something wrong?" The Poncle asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"We don't know where Gibbs is, but he saw something by Agata Forest, so we're going to investigate." Leeana explained grabbing her backpack.

"Oh… At this time of night?"

"It's not safe to be out alone at night. Who knows what will happen." Leeana insisted, quickly writing out a note in case she didn't come back so her sisters knew where she had went. "We need to find him quick."

"What about your sisters?" Ishana quickly asked, unsure of how to feel about this.

"They won't even know we're gone. So are you coming with?"

Ishana thought for a moment, "Fine, but only because it's safer to have multiple people."

"Thank you," Leeana replied, watching Ishana hop up to her shoulder, "I'm going to get some food form the kitchen, just in case." The girl grabbed the cherry mochi she had neglected earlier with a sigh, maybe she should just accept the fact that she would have to take part in the reenactment this year. It's just once then she won't have to do it again for another what? Eight years?

Leeana had practice in sneaking pass the people who stood at the boundaries of Kamiki. They made sure little kids who didn't have Pokemon didn't try and venture into the fields that were known to have Pokemon that sometimes got agitated. Due to it being right before the festival the people at the boundaries were a lot less observant. So it was much easier to sneak past.

As the trio stepped out of the boundaries of Kamiki and into Shinshu field, there was an obvious shift in atmosphere. Ri shifted uncomfortably, stating that there was a strange Aura around the field.

"Can you sense Gibbs Aura?" Leeana looked down to her friend who paused her walking a concentrated for a minute. Then sighed.

"I can sense it vaguely from Agata."

"Then it looks like we're going into the forest." Leeana noted, turning into the direction of the forest. The quickest way was to cut past Takoyaki Sensei's house, climb the hill and take the boat into the woods.

"At least we don't have to swim," Ishana commented as Leeana rowed the boat across the waterway that lead into Agata Forest. Ri told them that they were getting closer to Gibbs.

"You really care about them, huh?" Ishana noted from her perch, "Otherwise you wouldn't risk going into a dark forest in the dead of night."

"Yeah, I want my Pokemon and I to be friends, and I don't want my friends to get hurt, or lost or anything like that." Leeana replied as she could finally stop rowing, and the three got out of the boat. They soon stepped into Agata Forest, which was dark with only small glimmers of moonlight filtering through the trees. There was a strange feeling in the air.

"I can't tell where Gibbs is…" Ri commented sadly, looking defeated, "It's like some weird darkness has fallen over Agata."

"I know," Leeana muttered, "I feel it too."

"Don't worry too much," Ishana said, "Between the three of us I'm sure we'll find him."

The three walked around Agata Forest, calling out Gibbs name, while trying to navigate without a flashlight. They looked in bushes, glanced into the water of the springs, lakes, and rivers. Up in threes, even peeking into the Tsuta Ruins, though there wasn't any sign that anyone had been there for years, aside from a few Pokemon.

"Gibbs!" Leeana called again as they neared where she knew there was a cherry three. Her, Ri, and Gibbs would go there, so maybe he'd gone there. "If you can hear me, say something!"

Silence… Or was it? Leeana thought she could vaguely hear some kind of footsteps. Footsteps that were coming closer. They didn't belong to Pokemon… Leeana had a bad feeling.

"I don't think he can hear you," Ishana commented, dryly. Leeana looked over to the Poncle on her shoulder.

"If you'd like, you can head back to Kamiki. There's a way out of the forest that doesn't require a boat."

"No," Ishana sighed, "I agreed to help…"

The footsteps seemed to be much closer, rushing in like the owners were running. Leeana's slipped her backpack off on of her shoulders, unzipping it to rummage around. In case this was something that wasn't a Pokemon and was dangerous she'd need protection. The footsteps were almost there.

"Do you hear that?" Leeana asked, "Footsteps?"

"Uh… Yeah, maybe."

"Look out!" There, to the three's right, were two… Things. They looked like the imp demons that were depicted in stories of Amaterasu's adventures.

"What the hell are those?" Ishana screeched. Leeana's hand grabbed the first thing it found in her backpack. Quickly Leeana threw whatever it was her hand had grabbed at one of the imps. That was how one of the imps had a small bottle of ink splashed into it's face. Leeana grabbed Ri's hand, picking her up, then sprinted in the opposite direction of the imps.

"Their Aura," Ri gasped, "It's so dark. Like the energy I'm feeling over the forest but not as strong."

"I'm more worried about losing those things!" Leeana hissed with fear in her voice. Currently, they were running in a dark forest in the middle of the night from things that seemed like things of legends. It sounded like the setup of a horror game or movie, but it was real. If these imp things were real, what about all the other things that were in the stories. The Water Dragon that was the King or Queen, the Lucky Mallet that could change the size of things, or even the tales of the people who had once lived on the moon?

"Uh, hey," Ishana called from Leeana's shoulder, "Shouldn't there be water about here?"

"Sh-" Leeana didn't even have the chance to finish her swear when her, with Ishana and Ri in tow, felt the cliff of the hill disappear from under her feet. The three of them plummeted until they fell into the water.

"Crap!" Ishana hissed as she clung to Leeana's shirt when they resurfaced.

"At least," Leeana gasped, "I think we lost them." They were all soaked, Leeana knew everything in her backpack must have been soaked. She began swimming to shore.

"I don't sense the Aura of those demons," Ri said when they got to shore, "But now we're soaked!"

Leeana squinted, earlier she thought she'd saw some light, now she was sure. There seemed to be light, from a fire, off a ways from the water. She pointed to it.

"I think someone's set up a campfire there," The girl told her friends, "We can ask if they've seen Gibbs and if we can sit there and dry off a bit."

"Thank the gods," Ishana sighed, while Ri just shook some of the water off, nodding in agreement anyway. Leeana started walking towards the fire with Ri at her side. Since Leeana's bag was unzipped, a few unimportant things had floated out a bit, though she'd grabbed most of it. She hadn't grabbed her phone, so there was a least that.

"Why do you think those demons are here?" Leeana asked unsure, "They shouldn't be…"

"Hell if I know," Ishana grumbled, "Are you sure we shouldn't just head back and wait until morning?"

"Gibbs could be in even more danger now, we have to find him." Leeana insisted, crossing her arms in both defiance and to try to keep her body heat. They were just outside of the light of campfire, they could see that there was only a lone white wolf there. A grown wolf… In Olivine? And those crimson markings? And wait was that…

"Gibbs!" Leeana called out, rushing to the Gible who was sitting at the fire across from the wolf. The girl hugged her friend, while Ri came to join. Ishana grumbled something to remind them she was there.

"Why are you soaking wet?" Gibbs asked while they were hugging. Leeana let go and blushed.

"We were looking for you," She explained, "And there was an incident a few minutes ago when we fell into the water."

"Roo?" Asked the wolf, curious about the newcomers.

Despite the fact she was tired, soaking wet, and also relieved, Leeana knew it was best to be polite. This may be a wolf, but wolves were said to be rather intelligent.

"I'm sorry," Leeana apologized, "Barging into your camp like this, I was just so relieved to see Gibbs safe. We've been searching for an hour or so, and we just finished with an… Incident that resulted in our falling into the lake."

The wolf looked at Leeana with a certain amount of disinterest, but also concern. It was as if they were asking why they were running around Agata forest at night.

"We know it's dangerous to run around here at night, but that's precisely why we had to find Gibbs as soon a possible, so he'd be safe. Even if that meant coming here at night." Leeana explained, "Again, sorry to have intruded so abruptly."

"Is it alright if we stay here until we dry off?" Leeana asked, peeling her shirt sleeve up from her arm slightly. The wolf nodded it's head in agreement. Something about the wolf felt off to Leeana, she could feel it, just not know what.

"Thank you," Leeana smiled, slipping her backpack off and rummaging through. The cherry mochi she'd grabbed was wrapped up in plastic, so at least that was dry. She pulls it out, there were five, and noticed that the wolf was looking at the mochi somewhat hungrily.

"Would you like some?" She offered, holding one out to the pair of wolf. The wolf gladly gulped it up and Leeana chuckled. She took one for herself then wrapped them back up. She handed some berries to Ri and Gibbs.

"So how much of what you have in there isn't soaked?" Ishana asked, reminding her presence to everyone there. The wolf hadn't seemed to notice her, and neither had Gibbs, it seemed.

"Oh, the bug girl is here too."

"I'm not a bug!" Ishana hopped angrily on Leeana's shoulder, the latter of whom only sighed.

"To answer your question, Isha-chan, the only dry things are the mochi," Ishana looked at Leeana with shock.

"Isha-chan?" Ishana gasped, "What kind of name is that?"

"It's a nickname," The girl shrugged, putting the other uneaten mochi back into her backpack.

"I know that," Ishana grumbled, "But who the hell gives a nickname to someone they met not even a full day ago?"

"Uh," Leeana began, sparing a glance at the Poncle on her shoulder, "Me?"

Ishana grumbled something about how you shouldn't nickname people you'd just met, then she hopped off of Leeana's shoulder. Leeana continued to rummage through her bag, taking stock of what was in there. Some ink wells, paper that was surely useless now, and brushes. There was her piccolo, which thankfully was kept in a water tight case, and of course berries for Ri and Gibbs. She found she had some yen with her, so that was a plus. Leeana hoped that the four of them could be out of the forest and back to Kamiki before sunrise, that would give her plenty of time to make it seem like she was never gone.

Before she knew it, the young girl felt her eyes drooping. As much as she tried to stay awake, it was no good. Sleep soon pulled her under, her back resting against a tree.

Leeana stood in a pretty field, she was sure that it's basis was from stories, not anything she'd ever actually seen. It was too pretty, beautiful in a way that she'd never seen while awake. Leeana knew that this field, with it's flowers and cherry trees and clear blue sky with it's blazing sun, were all just a dream. She knew, because no matter how real any of her dreams ever seemed, there was one constant. There, sitting next to her under the cherry tree was a blond boy, perhaps fourteen, with a reddish pink scarf, and clothing that looked like it belonged in the past.

"Yo, Anna," The boy smiled, looking over to her. He had an uneasy smile on his face, even as he called Leeana by the nickname he'd given here. Something was bothering him.

"Is something wrong, Kurow?" Leeana asked. She got up from where she was sitting to lean against the tree.

Strange Boy Kurow

"What?" Kurow inquired, shocked, "Why do you ask?"

"You look… Concerned," Leeana shrugged, "Maybe I'm wrong."

"No…" The blond sighed, "You're right…"

"So what is it?"

"That wolf, did you notice anything strange?" Leeana thought back to the wolf. A white wolf in the forest. A wolf in and of itself in Olivine was strange but… what else? There was something, aside from the feel she was getting from it. Something… Red?

"Well," Leeana began, still slightly in thought, "The wolf had… had… crimson markings…"

"Yeah, that's what I thought, dude," Kurow sighed, bringing a hand up to run through his hair, a habit he picked up from Leeana.

"That's no ordinary wolf, is it Kyū*?" Leeana asked, using the nickname she'd given Kurow. She was worried, was this wolf something dangerous? It didn't seem like it but…

"That wolf, her name is Ama-" He had a chance to finish Leeana was pulled awake.

Leeana awoke to being nudged by the wolf, "What?" She grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Uh, I think something's coming. Something bad," Ri told her trainer, scared, "I think the wolf knows. But I don't think that's a normal wolf either…"

"What's wrong Ama?" Leeana asked, reverting to all she knew of this wolfs name. "Ama", it wasn't much to go off of, but it was something. If only Kurow had finished.

The wolf cocked her head to the side, then shoved the Leeana, Ri, Gibbs, and Ishana, who'd been napping on Ri's shoulder, out of the way. Where the group had once been, there was now a flute imbedded in the ground. The demons from before was there again, but there were some reddish ones with sitars.

"Demons again?" Ishana practically screamed when she'd been woken up from the movement. The group were pushed just outside of the demons curse, but that left the wolf, Ama, stuck in there with the demons.

"Why would the wolf push us out?" Gibbs asked, "Why put itself in that much danger?"

Leeana studied Ama, watching closely at how the imps seemed to be attacked by an invisible force when they got near the wolf. Leeana continued to watch even as the imps were magically slashed apart by an unseen blade. Except, she could see what Ama used to fight the demons. On the back of the wolf was a mirror, or at least what resembled a mirror. It had flames coming from it, like the sun in the sky. As the last of the imps disappeared, the curse falling, it dawned on Leeana what the strange feeling she got from the wolf was. It was divine.

Not divine like really good, although it was, divine as in it truly was the power of the gods. That was why Kurow wanted to double check that she could see the markings. This was a god, or goddess, Leeana supposed, given Kurow mentioned "her" when he was about to name Ama. The mirror on Ama's back was a divine instrument. It had to be.

All Leeana knew about the gods and their divine powers came from stories. Stories that were passed down through families and through the art of Celestial Envoys. But there was no mistaking it. With the energy she felt from Ama, the mirror on her back, and the way those imps were mysteriously cut down, there was only one answer. Ama, this wolf, was a god.

"No way…" Leeana breathed as this revelation came to her. Ama walked towards the group, who didn't quite seem to understand what happened. Ishana jumped up to Leeana's shoulder once again.

"Did you see that?" The Poncle asked, "There's a Reflector, a mirror on the wolf's back."

"Yeah," Leeana replied, "I'm glad you saw it too. You know what that means right?"

"What are you two talking about?" Gibbs asked, looking at the two with his big eyes.

Leeana looked to Ama, then bent down, patting the wolf. Leeana paused a moment, a slight hesitation in her petting, before saying in a quiet voice, though it was louder than a whisper, "You're a god, aren't you?"

Ama looked at her with a little surprise, but mostly just acknowledged the fact of her divinity with a slight nod of her head. She clearly just wanted pets. Ishana sighed, muttering under her breath about how the god was acting like a dog. Leeana chuckled slightly at hearing the Poncle's comment.

"Hey Lee," Ri called, causing Leeana to look over her shoulder, "The sun's already rising, shouldn't we be heading back to Kamiki?"

"What?" Leeana gasped, shooting up from her crouch. Ama whined at no longer being petted, but Leeana was frantic.

"We need to go, come on Isha-chan, Ri, Gibbs. We need to hurry, or Beth and Nara will notice we're gone!"

Leeana grabbed her Pokemon then sprinted off a bit, before turning around and calling, "Thank you!" to Ama. Leeana had gotten about halfway out of Agata forest with her friends in tow, when they both heard and felt the ground rumble. It wasn't an earthquake, nor was it from a Pokemon using Earthquake, it was from something else. Ri let out a gasp while Leeana cringed inwardly.

"Oh no… That darkness I felt… It's growing…"

"Ri," Came Leeana with a serious tone, looking down to her friend, "What do you mean, 'it's growing'?"

"How about you look up!" Ishana hissed from her shoulder, pointing what could have either been a paintbrush or a sword up at the sky. While you could see the sun struggling to peek into the forest, there was a dark cloud of… Something swirling around in the sky. It expanded past the trees of Agata Forest, into the direction of not just Shinshu Fields, but also the Tsuta Ruins and over the river towards Taka Pass.

"What the hell?" Leeana gasped, then with reckless abandoned, she continued sprinting out of Agata. "We have to get back to Kamiki, we have to warn the others of this darkness!"

"Weren't you worried about getting in trouble?" Ishana hissed into her ear, clinging onto Leeana's backpack strap.

"That doesn't matter, we have to warn people." Leeana countered, almost out of the forest now. Right as they neared the entrance, Leeana had a feeling, as though she'd been punched in the gut, that caused her to drop Ri and Gibbs. She had continued moving for several steps before she came to a halt.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked, Leeana just stood there, frozen in fear for a moment. Suddenly, an imp jumped out in front of her. In the split second before the imp brought up a curse to keep her from running, Ama jumped in, placing herself between Leeana and Ishana and the imp. Ama fought off this singular imp like she had before with the other demons. Leeana definitely felt... something. It was rare to see a god not once, but twice in the same hour. Being saved by Ama twice now, it was something. Leeana was honestly more worried about the people in Kamiki then herself right now.

"Lee!" Ri and Gibbs cried out, rushing to Leeana, "You're okay!"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Ishana grumbled.

"My, you seemed to have found quite the trouble magnets, eh, Ma Cherie?" Came a new voice, who was behind Leeana. It was definitely a male, who had a French accent. So was he from Kalos? Not that lots of people in Kalos knew French, but then there was the fact that he also knew Ama.

Ishana started hopping up and down on Leeana's shoulder, "It's Ms. My Self Preservation's Shit, here. She seems to be great at finding trouble!"

"I'm sorry," Leeana laughed a bit, "But you agreed to come here with me, so…"

"Yeah, I didn't think we'd be attacked by demons three times in less than a day!" Ishana groaned, "We better not end up falling into a lake again anytime soon."

Ama walked out of Leeana's view, probably to the man who'd spoken from behind her. Leeana spins on her foot to face Ama so that she could thank the wolf again. When she noticed the man be Ama, who was squatted down petting her. He wore a hat that was long and reached down his back, with tall sandals, all in all looking like someone from Olivine's long gone past. But none of that was what caused Leeana's brain to stall. It was the striking blue eyes trained on Ama and the tufts of blond hair peeking out from under his hat. This man looked just like Kurow would if he was older.

Leeana found herself quickly recovering from her shock, no one needed to know about her Kyū, no yet. "Thank you, again," She called to the wolf before gathering Ri and Gibbs back up, turning to head out of the forest.

"It's not safe to go that way, Mademoiselle," Called the man who reminded her too much of her Kyū.

Leeana took a deep breath then turned on her heel to face Ama and the man, "It's not safe here in Agata either. It's not too far to Kamiki," Leeana turned around once more, ready to leave the Goddess and the man.

"Wait," The man called once again, "Allow Ma Cherie to accompany you back to your village."

Leeana sighed, not in the mood to correct the man referring to Kamiki as a village, "Fine, can we just go now?"

So with that, the man who was uncomfortably like Kurow jumped off, moving through the trees as though he was flying. Meanwhile, Ama trotted over to Leeana and her friends, giving them a look that encouraged them to continue on their way. Leeana couldn't help but worry though. What was that darkness? Why was it spreading? Was Kamiki going to be safe? This close to the Sunrise festival is when instances of Divine Intervention were most commonly claimed to happened, due to belief being it's highest around then and the Sunset festival. Whatever it was that was swirling in the sky, it was far from Divine. And what about Ama? Or that man who looked like Kurow, her Kyū. Who was he?

At least they'd be back to Kamiki in the hour, even if they encountered demons, Ama took care of them rather quickly. It should be easy. Once back, they can warn people of the darkness. Kamiki's surely had enough incidents that it would at least be cautious. With Ama keeping them safe, they'd be fine.

Oh how Leeana was wrong. So horribly, terribly, wrong.

* Kyū is Japanese for nine. The name Kuro means ninth child.