A/N: I don't really have any notes before this chapter, but I like the pattern I've made with a quick note before and after each chapter so here we are. I will say that I'll be taking it easy over the next week on vacation. I should be able to bang out the next chapter but if I'm late next week, that's why! Anyway, enjoy this spoooooooooky chapter!

That morning I awoke to a sound that I never realized I had been missing: the sound of Hop training. He was excitedly yelling directions, and I heard the guttural baying of Dubwool, who seemed to be moving around pretty quickly as well. I yawned and slowly exited the tent to see that Cinderace and Bewear were already up as well, helping Sonia pack up her tent.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Sonia greeted with a warm smile. "There're some breakfast bars in my bag over there. They're not much, but they'll do until we break for lunch."

"Oh, good! You're up!" Hop shouted from the edge of the outcropping. "I borrowed Boltund and Vibrava, figured you wouldn't mind!"

"You wha—Oh!" I yelped as both of them zipped past me at full speed. Before I could catch myself, I felt a sudden yank on my arm as I was pulled to the left, into Bewear's arms just in time to get out of the way of Dubwool, who with his newfound size and speed was rolling much more chaotically than it did prior to evolution.

"Sorry, mate!" Hop yelled, jogging over to us. "Dubwool is still trying to get used to rolling with all this extra fluff."

"No kidding," I snickered, prying myself out of Bewear's grip. "He's a bit faster now, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Hop beamed. "Not as quick as Boltund or Vibrava, mind you, but we can figure a way around that. You better watch out; we're coming for that number one spot."

"Was your plan to literally steamroll me?" I said, jumping out of the way as our three Pokémon zipped past us again."

"If need be," Hop said, following up with a devilish laugh. I whacked him in the arm and the two of us laughed heartily.

"Hey, Boltund! Vibrava!" I called. The two stopped, dodged away from the speeding Dubwool one last time, and sped over to me excitedly. "If it's speed exercises you want to do, we can do speed exercises."

"Maybe after breakfast?" Sonia cried. "Kind of on a schedule here!"

"Right," Hop and I said in unison, jogging back over to help her finish packing.

Within an hour's walk, we started to see the ruins. While there were plenty of small walls and stone fences that had stood the test of time, many were overtaken with long blades of wild wheat and grass. In the distance we could see more complex ruins and we made to cut through the tall grass to get to them, but Sonia held us back.

"Lots of these ruins aren't stable. Let's be careful as we walk," she said simply. She fished around her purse and pulled out one of her smaller Dynamax Energy Detectors and handed it to me. "Just in case we do spot something," she said with a wink. She let go of my shoulder and Hop and I led the way into the grass. Sonia's Yamper scooted ahead of us, picking up the scent of something.

"Yamper!" Hop shouted after him.

"Oh, let him sniff," Sonia said. "He's made plenty of discoveries with that nose of his before." I grinned and followed the dog, eyes glued to the Dynamax Detector. Hop shivered and followed behind me closely. The sun climbed higher into the sky. There was not a cloud in the sky, but the further into the ruins we walked, the more I began to sense that something was amiss.

"Surprisingly chilly today," Sonia said suddenly. "It was supposed to be another scorcher today, I don't get it."

"Maybe it's all the spirits of those long gone," I joked, wiggling my fingers at her like I was casting a spell.

"Not entirely wrong," Hop said. "Look!"

Hop pointed forward and when I followed his finger, I saw a large blue boulder move quickly and then fall to the ground.

"Who's there!" I shouted, pulling out a Pokéball. The rock didn't move, and none of the long grass around it moved either. I lifted the Pokéball a little higher and inched toward the boulder.

"Gloria…" Hop said. "Look more closely."

I whipped my head back at him. "What do you—oh." I responded, and as I looked back, I saw the rock move a second time, pulling itself off the ground with strange little blue feet and hastily running away from us. I slapped my forehead in surprise. "Oh, that was a…a…"

"A Golett, yeah," Hop finished. "They're ghost types. They show up a lot at places like these. They evolve into pretty beefy Pokémon, too. Lee told me about how he battled one in the Championship Cup before. Gave him some trouble, but, well, you know how those stories go."

"They're not dangerous, are they?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so," Sonia said. "But maybe keep that Pokéball in your hand locked and loaded just in case," Sonia said. "C'mon, Yamper's still hot on the trail of something."

Sure enough, Yamper was already thirty feet away, still avidly sniffing at something. I jogged after him, trying to think if I had any Pokémon that were strong against a ghost type. They were not common Pokémon – I don't even think I had battled one since I started the challenge.

Another hour passed as we followed Yamper deeper into the old city. Every once in a while, we saw a sudden movement, but each time it was a small Pokémon that would rather not deal with us at all. There was the occasional glint of a Pawniard or the occasional crumbling sounds of a Boldore passing by, but we never caught sight of the Golett or any other Pokémon like it. The only thing more silent than the three of us was Sonia's Dynamax Detector, which did not even blip faintly as we walked.

As we made our way deeper into the ruins, the buildings themselves began to become a bit more defined. At first, I could only see the foundations of walls, but the walls began to grow, and soon I could see the beginnings of doorways, building frames, and low windowsills. Soon enough, the walls were taller than each of us, and despite the sun being high in the sky, they still cast long shadows, covering much of the overgrown pathways in darkness. Yamper kept ahead, avidly sniffing, but the three of us found ourselves wishing to follow him less and less. Even when we remained in the sun, the air around us began to get colder and colder.

"There aren't…more ghost Pokémon around, are there?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"I'll bet there are," Hop whispered, sidling up next to me.

Finally, Yamper let out a bark and rushed down a dark alleyway. Sonia yelped and ran after him, leaving Hop and I alone for a brief second. "Hop, come on," I said, but he grabbed my shoulder and pointed behind us.

"Look," he said.

"Is it the wolves?" I asked quietly, but when I looked where he pointed, I fell silent. We were looking at a strange, yet familiar tableau. There was a large, cobbled floor surrounded by the remains of three stone walls – no doubt the entryway of some ornate building. Chiseled stones were strewn about carelessly, as if a child had kicked their building blocks over at the end of playtime, though I couldn't tell if these rocks and bricks had fallen over the past millennia that this structure stood, or if it had truly been the site of the Darkest Day. My eyes glazed over the floor, and for a brief second, I could in my mind's eye see wooden tables, cracked and destroyed, covered with torn table garments and silver dishes. Banners and tapestries had been hung on the walls once, though I could no longer see where they would have actually hung from, and though I couldn't tell from what was left of it, I could feel in the depths of my heart that a gigantic hole had been blown into the back wall of this room, causing all the destruction that barely remained today.

"I…I dreamt of this place," Hop said quietly. He took a step forward, putting his foot on the first brick of cobble with a soft tap. "This was…"

"Of course," I gasped, following him. For just a moment, I recalled a dream I had while Hop and I were traveling through the Wild Area together, of Zacian, Zamazenta, and their two masters. As I thought of the two masters, two piles of boulders wobbled and then rose. They assumed humanoid forms and turned toward us. I could see strange glowing lights where their eyes would be, as well as some glowing runes that seemed to be scrawled on their sides.

"More Goletts!" Hop cried. I lifted my Pokéball again but balked. The two Golett simply looked at us, and though they had no true faces, I could not sense any malice in them. The two took a couple tentative steps forward but froze as Sonia called out from the other side of the ruin.

"Gloria! Hop!" She cried. She sounded excited and a little scared. Yamper let out a couple barks too. Something about her voice broke the spell, and the Golett both crumbled to the ground. I blinked and turned with Hop, and the two of us jogged out of the room and turned into the alleyway Yamper had led Sonia down. Though as we jogged, I could tell it was more of a hallway than an alley. The chiseling on some of the stones bore the same pattern as the rocks on the floor of the hallway, and I could just barely make out that there was a piece of rusted iron jutting out every few feet from the wall, perhaps they once were sconces for a torch.

At the end of the hallway was another open area, though much smaller than the large room Hop and I were just in. In the center of the room was a small blanket laid out with a small open basked filled with berries, but that was the least of anyone's worries. There were three more Golett in this room, and they were slowly stepping toward Sonia, who had backed herself into a corner. Yamper buzzed with electricity, and with another bark sent a bolt of lightning directly at a Golett that was closest to it. Unfortunately, the Golett was not remotely fazed by the bolt of energy.

"Sonia, Goletts are also ground types!" Hop said. "That means no electricity can stop 'em! C'mon, Trevenant, let's try again!"

He grabbed a Pokéball from his belt, but I latched onto his wrist. "Wait!" I said. "I don't think they want to fight!"

"Gloria…!" Hop grunted. He tried to pull his wrist away from me, but I held firm. After a couple seconds of struggling, he relaxed his muscles, and I dropped his hand. I walked over to the Goletts, who stopped and faced me as I approached. Much like the two from the large room, they did not seem mean. If anything, they seemed more curious about their lunchtime visitor.

"H-hey there," I squeaked, leaning down to face the one closest to Sonia. "I…I hope we aren't bothering you."

The Golett tilted the rock that made up its head, as if deep in thought, and then turned to the second Golett. The third Golett turned around entirely and began walking back toward the basket of berries.

"H'lo," an airy voice said.

I screamed. "Whoa! You can talk?!" I shouted, falling back. Yamper scampered toward me and growled at the first Golett, who leaned forward, as if bracing itself for another attack.

"N…no," the voice said. "Well…well I can, but I'm not one of the Golett." As he spoke it, a little boy peeked over an overturned rock on the far end of the room. "I was having some lunch with the Golett an'…an' I heard you an' got scared."

"Gloria is pretty scary, but you get used to lookin' at a face like hers after a while," Hop said, with newfound confidence now that there was a human behind the supernatural excitements.

"I've seen her battle," the boy said slowly. "I …I remember you now. You don't seem mean. You aren't here to fight the Golett, are you?"

"No, definitely not now," I assured him. "You alright? You can come out. Are all these Golett yours?"

"Thanks, but they're not mine. They're just…friends," the boy said. He stood up and slowly walked out of the shadows with a slow and uneasy pace, as if he still was not convinced he would be safe around him. He wore all black and hunched forward. Under his messy black hair, he wore a strange white mask that was just a little paler than the ivory-colored skin of his hands. He almost looked like a ghost himself; the only sign of life in the boy were two brilliant violet eyes, just barely visible in the holes in his mask. "M'name's Allister," he said simply, giving a half-hearted wave.

"Allister…blimey, I've heard of you!" Hop said with a wide grin. "Gloria, this kid's an ace!"

"Right!" I said, matching his grin with my own. "I've heard about you. You're one of the Gym Leaders, right?"

"Youngest in the league, by far!" Hop said, "and a master of Ghost Types. Of course, these Golett love hangin' about with you!"

"…yeah," Allister said with a nervous laugh. "Not really keen on surprises, though,"

"Lee's told me all about you," Hop continued. "You seem to be the one who's always surprising."

"I…I guess," Allister said. "You can come out now."

"What?" I asked, but I quickly realized he wasn't talking to me. Behind Allister, a much larger shadow filtered through the grass and sped toward us. I scrambled back with Yamper just in time for the shadow to leap out at me and become fully corporeal and found myself looking directly into the eyes of a Gengar, who grinned and cackled with mischief, eyes flitting back and forth between Hop and me before bounding back, past Allister and landing jovially next to the basket, where he then focused on eating every berry that was inside.

"Bloody hell," Sonia said quietly behind me. I realized that I had not been breathing and took a couple deep breaths as I pulled myself off the ground. Yamper scurried back and cowered behind Sonia's legs. Meanwhile, Hop had stars in his eyes.

"Bloody hell is right! Is this…is this THE Gengar? Gloria, this Gengar is a bloody legend."

"He's okay," Allister agreed. I got the sense that he was blushing underneath his mask. "He's my best friend."

"He's a nightmare on the pitch, I've seen him use it with Lee so many times." Hop continued. "Allister, you have to give us a battle! Show us what Gengar is capable of!"

"Erm…" Allister muttered, taking a step back. "Maybe…eventually?"

"Hop, I appreciate you getting your mojo back but maybe cool it?" I asked, looking back at the three Golurk. At Hop's mentioning of a battle, they stepped back suddenly and began cowering together.

"You see and understand them, too?" Allister asked suddenly, cocking his head and looking at me with his eerie violet eyes. Gengar looked up from his feast curiously and snickered again before fading back into the shadows. The berry in his hand fell to the ground.

"I…I guess."

"Blimey," Hop said, turning to the Golett in apology. "Didn't realize that you lot were peaceful ghosts."

"Most don't," Allister said, walking past us and kneeling next to one of the Golett. He placed a frail-looking hand on the Pokémon's head and the Golett hummed warmly. It cocked its head a little, leaning into Allister's touch, not unlike a Meowth or a Purrloin.

"They're not quite as scary as when you first meet them, are they?" Sonia said, smiling warmly, though her voice was still a little tense and she made sure to keep Yamper between her and the Golett. A quick breeze filtered past me and before I could know it, Gengar reappeared right in front of Sonia, sticking out its long pink tongue. She screamed and fell backwards onto the wall, whacking her head and groaning. Gengar screeched with laughter, laughing so hard that he lost his balance and fell, only instead of landing on the ground, he began to float away like a balloon. "Well, most of 'em aren't," Sonia concluded, rubbing her head.

"Sorry," Allister said cheerily, holding back laughter. "Gengar is a bit of a prankster; he's not mean though, promise."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Sonia grumbled. Gengar returned to eating the berries as if nothing happened.

"That's what everyone says," Allister chided, returning his focus to the three Golett in front of him. "And everyone's afraid of them, but I know the truth. That's why I like comin' here."

"You come here a lot, then?" I asked.

"A lot more recently," he said. "They say that I calm them down, and I like helping."

"You…they can talk to you?" Hop gasped.

Allister winced, and for a brief moment, the Golett he had rested his hand on tensed up as well, but when the boy took a deep breath, both relaxed. "Lotsa Pokémon can talk," he replied slowly. "You just…have to listen to them." He looked at me with a shrewd eye. "They tell me all sorts of stories."

"What about?" Sonia asked, pulling out a notebook.

Allister shook his head but kept his eyes focused on me. "Just…stories. Fairy tales, stories from when they were once alive. Most of 'em only really tell me the one, though."

"The Darkest Day?" I asked.

Allister shrugged. "I…I think so."

"Do they mention a black hand?" I continued.

Allister paused, then nodded again. "Have the ghosts been telling you that story too?" he asked.

"Sorry…black…hand?" Sonia asked, scribbling fiercely into the notebook.

Allister cowered, but nodded again, turning back to the three Golett. "These three told me about how they were sisters, trapped in the castle walls. I monster so big that its hand alone could crush houses attacked this place, and everyone…well, you know." He laughed uneasily. "They say their last memories were pure terror, but in all the years since, they don't remember much else."

"Like how Zacian and Zamazenta came to save the region?" I ventured.

"Who?" Allister asked.

"The two legendary wolves," I explained. "That was their names. They were the ones who destroyed the Black Hand on the Darkest Day."

"Wolves," Allister said, pondering. "I thought there was a mighty hero who did that." He turned to the Golett. "Do you remember any wolves?" Instantly, the glowing lights around the Goletts' faces lit up bright yellow, and they started to move around quickly, as if something Allister had said had set them off. They started to vibrate and make weird groaning noises. I couldn't quite tell what it was they were trying to say, but Allister nodded, listening intently. He looked back at me curiously. "They remember wolves. How…odd… they never said this when I told them about the big hero of Galar…"

I laughed nervously. "Maybe there never was one after all."

Allister laughed airily. "You're a funny one, Miss Dixon. Oh, they want to show you something. Do you want to come with us?"

I looked back at Sonia and Hop, who both shrugged. "Sure," I said. "Let's go."

He looked back to the Golett and nodded. The three turned and wobbled away, heading to a wide gap between walls that may have once been a doorway. Allister waved an arm, gesturing for us to follow. I did, and soon we were all wandering through a labyrinth of walls and decay. The three Golett led the way, moving with astonishing speed for creatures with such strange and stubby legs. Allister and I were next, jogging briskly. Hop and Sonia were hot on our tails, and Sonia in particular kept trying to edge in front of Hop because bringing up the rear was Allister's Gengar, who was still taking a considerable amount of delight in making faces and snapping mischievously at her ankles, with Yamper in hot pursuit. As we ran, I began to see more Golett pop up, as well as a few other wild Pokémon – Pawniard and Falinks, wearing the rusty armor of long dead soldiers and city watch. Finally, we came to a massive open area, where long grass sloped downward into a shallow pit at the center of the clearing. There were large rocks and walls on the side, but save for a few boulders near the center, the crevice in the ground was free of any rubble. Allister and the three Golett stopped along the edge of the indent and waddled over to the left. Hop, Sonia and I followed, looking into the pit as we walked. Eventually, we stopped on a large stone platform that stood thirty feet across and faced the crevice as a stage would face an audience. The first Golett pointed back to where the wall shot up out of the dirt and began making that strange groaning again.

"That's…that's where they died," Allister translated. "They said the wolves were too late for them, but they saw…they saw the battle…"

"Battle?" Sonia asked.

Allister shrugged. "They never told me this before. You musta said something that made them remember, Miss Dixon."

The Golett then waddled toward me and pointed outward toward the crevice. I looked out on the crevice again and gasped. From this angle the indent in the ground was much less natural looking. It was hard to make out after centuries of overgrowth and erosion, but the shape was undoubtedly the shape of a massive beast, easily over fifty feet long. Coming up to the platform, I could see two smaller and longer divots, perhaps the arms of the beast, coming forward, looking like a hole that Yamper had been digging in the dirt. Had this beast been scraping at stone in the same way?

The Golett groaned again. "This is where the wolves fought the beast," Allister said excitedly. "They managed to beat it, but then…something happened. The sky turned black, and the beast changed form…into a giant hand. It made one wild attack and…they were no more. They died at that moment."

"Bit of an anticlimax," Sonia muttered quietly.

"Hey, look at this," Hop said suddenly. The three of us looked down and saw that there were four unique imprints on the platform.

"Are these just cracks in the rock?" Sonia asked.

"I don't think so, mate," Hop said. "These are paw prints." Sure enough, he stood in the middle of four mighty indents that, while worn down, did still resemble paws. Just to the left of me, I saw another set of four paw prints, as well as a series of cuts in the stone that were too straight and precise to have been made from just natural cracks over the years. At Allister's feet was a set of two imprints, spread apart at a diagonal angle, almost in the battle stance of a Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee. And Sonia took one step back and stepped directly into another set of two footprints, although these were much smaller and thinner, almost like bird talons.

"The four champions…" Sonia whispered, her eyes lighting up.

"There's four? Well now the story of the Galar Hero just seems like a flat out lie," Allister said suddenly, an air of disappointment in his voice.

I looked over to Hop just as the sun started to dip in the sky. As the shadows slowly pushed toward the four of us, I gulped.

"So Zacian and Zamazenta need our help to stop this again?" Hop asked. "Blimey, I thought havin' Lee for a brother was too much pressure."

A/N: Told you the other gym leaders were making cameos. I was going to have Allister play a bigger role but it didn't really mesh with his personality from the games and didn't really add much to the story, so unfortunately I had to leave it on the cutting room floor. Shame, because he's a really interesting character! But don't fret! I still have some fun planned for Allister once the championship tournament starts in *checks notes* oh god i'm gonna be writing this into the 2030s aren't i

NEXT WEEK: COLDER SKIES