Chapter 5: The Plot... Finally!

An elderly Solrock, psionically encased in a personal atmosphere, arrived at the suboceanic cave to which it had been dispatched. A booming verbal and telepathic voice sounded forth from deep within the abyss. "/Halt!\" The Solrock stopped, and politely waited for its next instruction. "/Identify yourself!\"

"/My lord, I am Solhund the Solrock: rainbow serving, message bearing.\" Solhund used her own telepathic powers to supplement these words in ways only telepathy can.

"/State the message!\"

"/My liege has identified 2 humans to nominate: smile wearing, past fleeing & wisdom wielding, future dreading.\" There was a silent pause as more detailed information was communicated telepathically.

"/Deliver this message to your liege! 'I will assign a servant to assist in the monitoring of these youths. Meanwhile, we must find more nominees. Aleph is very selective regarding matters of trust and may not be satisfied with any of the 124 nominees we have already selected.' \"

"/I will deliver your message at once, and guard its contents with my life.\"

"/You are dismissed!\" The Solrock bowed deeply and backed out of the cave. After sitting in contemplation for a minute, the Legendary Pokémon turned to swim back inside, but the movement was halted by a swift tackle to the gut.

"/Daddy! Please don't go!\" a child desperately pleaded. Although the child had so more to say, he could no longer form words through his sobbing. Seeing his progeny in such pain hurt the father more than any of his war injuries.

The father curled one wing around his son as he softly said, "/Do not cry my child. I was merely speaking with another. I have no intention of leaving you or your mother so soon after coming home. Now, let us go put you back to bed. You will need your rest if you intend to play with Oliver and Liwanag tomorrow.\"

-.-.-

It had been a day since Solhund had been promised a partner and she was expecting them with bated breath. She was looking forward to getting a new perspective on the data, so she made sure to have a Text of messenger Unown give a copy of her memories to whoever was sent her way.

Solhund could feel a presence approaching her. She turned and fixed her gaze on a Lunatone who was practically exuding nervousness. Oh, a Solrock and a Lunatone. Typical.

"/Hello. Are you Solhund by any chance?\"

"/The one and only. You are my new partner, I presume.\"

"/Oh, uh... Yes. I'm Blamane. It is nice to meet you,\" the Lunatone replied, seeming startled. "/I was sent here to work with you on the human situation. I have reviewed your observations on the two new candidates.\"

Solhund found some satisfaction in the fact that she was still intimidating enough to make others shake in their proverbial boots, but her fun was short lived as it was time to start discuss their job. "/I think we found the right ones, honestly. What do you think?\" Solhund looked at her new partner with anticipation.

He huffed and said: "/At least you found two humans. I had no luck finding any! Fortunately, some of the other scouts picked up the slack so my Liege has already nominated 30 or so. Even with so many nominees from so many places, it's possible that they could all end up being useless. Let's be frank; they probably won't meet Aleph's standards. He is more paranoid than a Linoone with a hoard of berries!\"

Solhund stopped and thought of what he said. Though he was pessimistic, he was also right. "/I suppose that there is no way around it. We must start testing them.\"

"/Test them? But how?! As far as I am aware this situation is quite unique and complicated, language barrier notwithstanding. Which nominees do we even start with?\" Solhund could practically sense Blamane visualising and dismissing idea after idea.

"/Let's start with the nominees I just identified. The research I've already done suggests that these particular humans could be prime contenders. They are somewhat adept in Human-Human relations. We simply have to show that their Human-Pokémon skills are good enough.\"

Blamane looked to his colleague in anticipation. "/How do you plan to do that?\"

If Solhund could smirk she would. "/With just a smidgen of... danger.\"