Chapter One: Days Like These

Mitonga Island

Alakazam, Lord of Mitonga Island, sat in his office and carefully examined the envelope brought by the Pelipper Post in the morning. He thought he could find a hidden message by doing so. From the outside, nothing seemed unusual about the letter at first glance. It looked just like any other ordinary letter. Just the paper had a better quality than others. Only after closer examination, one could see that it had a royal stamp.

Alakazam and the regent of Oblivia were close friends since a time when he was still a Kadabra, and the king not yet king, but an ordinary Pignite. But after he defeated the former king of Oblivia, Beartic, in a battle two decades ago, and conquered the throne for himself, Alakazam could feel how his friend slowly grew distant from him. One day he heard that Emboar married Absol, daughter of the wealthiest Lord of Oblivia, Tyranitar. He warned his friend about Absol's insidious nature. But Emboar took this as a personal attack, a dispute erupted between them, and the contact broke off completely. They didn't have any contact, until this letter reached him out of the blue:

My dearest friend!

How have you been lately? I must apologize for not contacting you over all these years. I would like to come straight to the point: Something has happened that requires a private conversation between us. Therefore, I will come to Mitonga Island in two weeks. My wife will accompany me, as well as our son. I hope I'm not causing too much trouble for you and your family. Let's talk about everything else when we see each other.

Sincerely yours,

Emboar

That was all, not a single word on what was so important that he had to talk about. The only real news he had learned from the letter was that Emboar now had a son and that he secured the throne this way. What was there to discuss? As Alakazam mused about the message, Arcanine came into his office. He was a giant dog with red and golden fur.

"Sorry for disturbing you, Alakazam," he said. "We just arrested a Spinda in the city, who is said to have molested a little girl."

"I'm right on my way," said Alakazam. He carefully folded the letter and put it back into the envelope, got up and followed Arcanine into the main hall which functioned as a court room.

On Mitonga Island, the third largest island of Oblivia, it was Alakazam's duty to maintain law and order. What he said was done, and he was involved in all important decisions. In the whole region there was only one person whose position was higher than his: King Emboar. During the years of his regency on Mitonga Island he earned a reputation for being strict, but never unfair. That way he received the respect from most of the residents.

Two Growlithes brought Spinda in, just as Alakazam arrived at the hall. Spinda looked rather miserable, not only because he was wearing cuffs. He looked unkempt, his fur was dirty, his ears hung down limply. A Gothitelle stood on one side of the hall, with her daughter Gothita in her arms. The mother glared at Spinda with an expression of disgust, while the girl watched her surroundings curiously.

"You are Spinda, is that correct?" asked Alakazam after having taken his seat.

When Spinda hesitated, he was pushed hard into the back by one of the Growlithes. "Answer when you're asked!"

"Yes, that's me," said the Spot Panda, it was no more than a whisper.

"Do you know Gothita, daughter of Gothitelle?"

"No, I don't," replied Spinda. Suddenly, the words came out of him like a waterfall. "Listen please, I've done no harm to her… I just wanted to talk with her!"

"You touched her with your filthy hands!" the mother interrupted him, hissing hysterically.

"I confused her with someone else!" Spinda defended himself. "I thought she was my girlfriend…"

"Don't you think Gothita is a bit too young to be your girlfriend?" asked Alakazam suspiciously.

"I told you that I confused her with someone else, didn't I?" said Spinda desperately. "My girlfriend was a Gothorita, and this girl looks so much like her."

"Why do you say 'was'? What happened to her?"

"She was abducted a week ago, by ghosts!"

A big laughter broke out in the hall. Only Gothitelle remained silent and stared grimly at him. Alakazam stayed serious, too.

"You do know that there are no ghosts, right?" asked one of the Growlithes.

"Yes, there are!" said Spinda with a cracking voice. "I've seen them with my own eyes: Duskulls and Dusclops, and they all obey the orders of Giratina! It's all true what the Elders have told me, I just didn't want to believe them!"

Again the others laughed out loud, and Alakazam had to call them to be silent.

"Well, this time I'll turn a blind eye to it," he said. "I will release you with a warning. You will stay away from little girls from now on, do you understand?"

"Yes, Milord!" said Spinda and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Milord!"

Alakazam turned to the Growlithes. "Bring him to Chansey. Ask her to do an examination on him and if needed, give him some Persim extract to cure his confusion. The case is closed, you may leave now!"

Gothitelle seemed anything but satisfied with Alakazam's verdict. "You want to let him go, just like that?"

"Yes, do you have problems with it?"

"I have indeed! He harassed my daughter and touched her in an indecent manner…"

"No, he didn't do anything like that!" Alakazam interrupted the angry mother harshly. "If you would calm down just a second and listen to your daughter's thoughts you would know it!"

Still enraged, Gothitelle turned around and was about to leave the court room when her daughter started to fidget with her short legs.

"Let me down, Mom!" she said. When Gothitelle complied reluctantly, the little girl ran to Alakazam, looked at him with her big blue eyes and asked: "Are there Dragons?"

"No, my child, there are no dragons," replied Alakazam. "They are long gone."

Gothita seemed to think about something. "Why was the man so sad?" she then asked.

"Because he lost someone he loved very much, just like your mom loves you. Do you understand that?"

Gothita nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Alakazam stroked her gently on the head. "You're a good kid. And now go, your mom is waiting!"

Gothita smiled happily at Alakazam and ran back to Gothitelle. As the room emptied, the Lord of Mitonga Island stood up from his chair. It was then he noticed that Arcanine watched him critically.

"What?" asked Alakazam.

"It's nothing," replied Arcanine. "I was just thinking if we could have done anything to help Gothorita."

"And what could we have done?"

"Maybe we could have sent the Guardians?"

"For what?" asked Alakazam. "You know as well as me that no one survived more than two days when abducted by Dusclops' gang."

"I know," said Arcanine with bitterness. "It's just that I wished we could do more. You know, I hate my job in days like these. They make me believe that the peaceful times of Oblivia are coming to an end."

Sophian Island

There have been a lot of activities in the palace of Oblivia's northernmost island for several days now. Countless Delibirds went in and out carrying ornaments to decorate the rooms. Smeargles were in charge of painting the walls, and a Wigglytuff was hired along with his team to prepare the food for the guests who would arrive in a few days. In the midst of all the commotion was a Glalie who watched the actions attentively. Everything had to be perfect, when Lord Machamp and his entourage arrived. The first impression was the most important.

"Lord Glalie, may I talk to you for a second?" asked a soft voice.

The Face Pokémon turned around to the corpulent female with blond hair, purple skin and a red dress standing behind him. It was Jynx, the personal servant of his sister Froslass.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" asked Glalie annoyed.

"I'm very sorry to disturb you," said Jynx. "But your sister has refused to eat anything for two days. I'm worried about her. Maybe you could talk to her?"

"Yes, all right," said Glalie. "I'm right on my way."

When he arrived in Froslass' room, he saw her sitting right in front of her mirror of ice. He could see in the reflection that she has been crying. Her body was more fragile than ever. It was hard to believe that they were twins. Ever since the day she found that strange glowing stone and brought it home her appearance has completely changed.

"What's wrong with you, dear sister?" asked Glalie.

Froslass turned around to him. "What's wrong with me?" she asked. "You force me to marry this muscle guy and ask me that?"

"Do we really have to go through all this again? It the only way we can defend ourselves against King Emboar. With the army provided by Lord Machamp we will defeat him, and then Oblivia will be ours again!"

"You've been talking about nothing else but becoming king for weeks now," Froslass replied defiantly. "You are just concerned about yourself, you selfish bastard!"

Glalie was so enraged by her words that he almost attacked her with a Headbutt. But he knew that it would be ineffective on her, so he controlled himself. "How dare you calling me selfish?" he said with clenched teeth. "I'm doing this for both of us! Have you already forgotten that Emboar defeated our father and took the throne? And that father was so humiliated that he died from it? So before you insult me the next time, you should ask yourself what you did for our family!" Before he rushed out of the room, he stopped again and said with his back turned to his sister: "I will be the new ruler of Oblivia, and no one will stop me, not even you!"

Frosless felt that something was falling down from her face. She reached out and caught it. It was a tear drop, frozen to ice.

Mitonga Island

Alakazam immediately knew that something was different when he came home. His wife Lilligant did not come to the door to greet him, as she normally did. Instead, she sat silently in the kitchen and peeled a large apple with a knife made of a Skarmory feather. She was completely lost in her thoughts and did not interrupt her work, even when Alakazam entered. He decided not to ask her and just sat down quietly. When Lilligant finished the peeling, she cut the apple in the middle and handed one half to her husband. They ate silently until Lilligant said:

"Garbodor is dead."

The news took Alakazam by surprise. At first he didn't know anything else to say than: "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be," said Lilligant and shook her head. "I don't know why it bothers me so much. I never liked him anyway, even though he was always kind to my sister. Does it mean I have a bad nature?"

"No, why do you say that?" asked Alakazam. "If you had a bad nature, you would not feel sorry for his death. How did he die?"

"I don't know," replied Lilligant. "He was ill for quite some time. He went to every Chansey and every Audino he could find, but no one was able to help him. Even now they have no idea about the cause of death."

The thoughts rushed through Alakazam's head. He hardly knew Garbodor. He only knew that he was very affable and dutiful. As the Helping Hand of the king he had achieved many things and received countless decorations. Suddenly Alakazam remembered the letter from Emboar. So that was the reason for his visit. Alakazam's stomach began to feel uncomfortable. He thought that maybe Arcanine was right. Maybe the peaceful times have indeed come to an end.