Author's Note: Ah yes, it is finally here!

Enjoy the show!

At around 6:30, Juliana left her dorm room while stretching her arms, this caused a few of her joints to pop. But she paid no mind to that, She was mentally preparing herself to meet with Nemona. After ensuring that she was stock with plenty of medicine for both human and Pokémon, she whispered, "I'm wondering what Raifort could be after? I'm always happy to help my teachers however I can but this is quite the request…"

Juliana walked out of the dorm area into the entrance hall continuing to whisper, "Should I tell Arven about this? He probably wouldn't be a fan of searching for ancient Pokémon after what we went through… The Treasures of Ruin, what would she do with them? Why does she want them? None of this is making sense…"

"Juliana!"

Juliana jumped and whirled around to see Arven approaching. He had a cheerful expression, "Were you just talking to yourself?"

She reddened, "Ah! Uh… no?"

He grinned mischievously, "Yes you were." He teased, "I saw you clearly. That's pretty cute, Juliana."

Juliana folded her hands nervously, "I was just thinking about things." she shyly explained.

"Is everything all right?" Arven asked.

"Um… actually." Juliana spoke, "Arven, have you heard of the Treasures of Ruin?"

Arven folded his arms with a thinking expression, "The Treasures of Ruin…? Where did I hear…? Oh! I've heard of that story. The story where some king from ages ago had some items and they turned into Pokémon?"

"That's the one." Juliana confirmed.

"Those items became that way because of greed." He noted, "I used to think that story was nothing more than that, just a story." He then shook his head with a dreaded expression, "But after what we saw in Area Zero, it's very possible those Pokémon exist. Not that people need to be looking for them."

Juliana felt her heart drop.

"What about it?" Arven questioned.

Juliana got cold feet, "Oh nothing! It's just something I… heard about."

"Um… okay?" Arven replied, shrugging.

Juliana's mind was telling her to tell him, but instead she told him, "Nemona and I are going to be hanging out for a bit at 7. I was just preparing to meet with her outside."

"Ah, I see! Sounds fun! Just make sure she doesn't go too crazy."

Juliana awkwardly laughed, "Heh… well you know how she is."

"Yeah, that's true."

"So, what are you doing now Arven?" She questioned.

"I was just about to meet with Professor Saguaro." Arven answered, "I asked him for more cooking advice, and he agreed to meet with me one-on-one. He's asked about us by the way."

"Oh! Is he? I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Juliana replied.

"He's really happy for us. I have a feeling he's gonna want to give me love advice too. He's always looked out for me like that. I'm kind of starting to see him as… you know…"

She realized what he was trying to say, and timidly completed his sentence, "Like a… father figure?"

"Y-Yeah…" Arven affirmed uneasily, "Sorry…" He put a hand on his neck.

"Don't be, I understand." Juliana put her arms around him, squeezing him tight.

Arven returned the hug, "As you know, I never had anyone like that growing up. It's something I need to get used to."

"You will Arven." Juliana comforted, "I know it."

He smiled gently, "Thanks cutie."

They kept holding onto each other until Arven spoke, "Okay, I better get going to meet with him." He looked at her warmly, "Be safe out there and have fun okay?"

"I will, thank you Arven." Juliana smiled.

After they waved bye, she went for the exit of the school. She felt guilt over not telling Arven what happened.

"Oh… I'm sure this Treasure of Ruin quest won't amount to anything. I don't want to worry him…" She assured herself.

As 7 pm rolled around, Juliana casually strolled into the battle court in the Mesagoza. Her palms were a bit sweaty, and she isn't as energetic as she always is. But she's always happy to hang out with a best friend nonetheless. Also, who knows? This could turn out to be a fun outing!

Juliana smiled at the thought, "Well, I'll at least get to hang out with Nemona one-on-one just like the old days!" She remembered the day she first began at the academy.

"That was the day I got Meowscarada as a Sprigatito." She reminisced while looking at her starter's Pokeball, "That was a fun day!"

After a moment of memories, she put the Pokeball away and looked around for Nemona. Lucky for her she saw the student council president eagerly waiting for her near one of the cafés.

"Over here Juliana!" Nemona waved, "Let's get going already!"

"I'm coming!" Juliana called to her before running to be beside her, once she caught up the two began to walk.

"All right, time for an adventure!" An excited Nemona cheered, "Where should we go first?"

Juliana checked her map, "Well, according to the spots Raifort marked on the map…" She became shocked, "What? There's a shrine close to Los Platos!?"

"No way!" Nemona reacted, "That close!? That's insane! I've been at that place so many times! I had never seen anything out of the ordinary nearby!"

"I know." Juliana agreed, "It's crazy. That's what makes me think Raifort has too much imagination."

"She does kind of unnerve me a bit to be honest." Nemona admitted, "And you know me, I'm not the type to be unnerved easily. I hope she's not luring us into some trap or something."

The girls exited the Mesagoza, entering the South Province.

Before Juliana could respond, Nemona suddenly added, "But hey! That would be fun too! I mean, we're so strong together we could get through anything!" She smiled joyfully.

"Nemona…" Juliana shook her head, "We still need to be careful."

"We will be!" Nemona assured, "Let's just have as much fun as we can though, okay?"

Juliana nodded her head, trying to think positive, "On the plus side, this will be like the first time we met!"

"Oy! You're right! I remember that day so clearly, that was the best! Whodathunk it would lead us here huh?" Nemona picked up her pace and began to jog.

Juliana started jogging to keep up, "I remember that day too! Skipping along the trails on the way to school was so fun!" She enthused, "We've all come so far now!"

"Hahaha! I wonder what else we'll find. It's all so exciting to think about!" Nemona encouraged.

"It might be just a fairytale!" Juliana suggested, "It could just be some really old items sealed away!"

Nemona broke into a full sprint, "Or it could be real Pokémon!"

Juliana began sprinting too, "How will we know for sure!? Huh!?"

"Hey! People like to say that the Area Zero expedition story is a fake! But you know what we saw down there!" Nemona pointed out between breaths.

"That's an excellent point my dear rival!" Juliana returned the stimulated energy, re-awakening her explorer's heart and pushing away all the apprehension.

Nemona smiled big, "Oh you! You know how happy it makes me when I hear you call me 'rival'!"

The girls dashed side by side, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. Trainers they crossed paths with hopped out of the way seeing the two barreling toward them. Pokémon were startled and rushed for cover. After going at this for several minutes, Juliana had glanced ahead, and was frightened to see they were fast approaching a ledge.

Juliana gasped, they were so into their exchange they weren't looking ahead, she skidded her feet to a stop and cried out, "Nemona, look out!"

Nemona looked ahead and saw what she was being warned of, she also gasped and halted her feet. However, she stopped teetering right on the edge.

"Juliana!" She shrieked, panicking and waving her arms around trying to find balance.

Juliana rushed to her and grabbed her arm tightly, "Nemona, don't fall!" She cried, leaning backward.

Nemona looked down the cliff and saw a long drop into the ocean with several sharp rocks jutting from the cliffside. She tried to get her feet onto more stable ground, but the crumbling edge would slip out from under her and tumble down, both girls cried in fright.

Koraidon popped out of its Pokeball and saw the girl's predicament, leaping into action he grabbed Nemona's arm and flung her back to safety, sending both girls tumbling into each other and onto the ground.

They both laid there for a moment, "Ouch…" Nemona groaned, pushing herself up, "Whoa! That was a close call!"

"I'll say." Juliana rubbed her head, "Koraidon! Thank you so much, good job!" She sprung to her feet and gave the legendary a hug. Nemona also rushed to hug Koraidon, "You saved my hide! Thanks pal!"

Koraidon smiled, nodding its head, "Agaii!"

The girls stepped back from Koraidon facing each other in shock. They embraced one another.

"You okay though?" Juliana asked, worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was truly something epic."

"That would have been bad." Juliana stated, "Let's be more careful from now on."

Nemona nodded, "Right. Now, where is the shrine?"

"Agaias!" Koraidon barked, catching the attention of the girls. It pointed its head to a rocky hill close to them. The girls looked to see nothing unusual to the eye, but they approached and went around a large rock to see a space where there was a cave at the base of the hill.

"Juliana, check it out!" Nemona approached the cave and looked inside, "There's something glowing in there!"

"What is it?" Juliana looked into the cave and gasped lightly, "Oh wow!"

There was a glowing, purple circular door being held shut by chains. As they slowly approached, they could barely hear what sounded like a low growl from within. They looked at each other uneasily.

"It sounds like there's something actually in there!" Nemona enthused, "We've got to find a way to open this door!"

Juliana informed her, "Raifort said it could only be done by pulling a stake out of the ground." She looked around, "But I don't see any stake around here."

"Well, we're gonna have to find it!" Nemona clapped her hands together, "Come on, let's get searching!"

She ran out of the cave and started looking around, "Where do we even start to look?"

"It has to be nearby." Juliana hypothesized, "If the door to the shrine is here. It'll also most likely be somewhere that most people wouldn't see it easily."

Nemona looked over the edge of the cliff, "Oy! Juliana! There's a narrow path on this cliffside!"

Juliana cautioned, "Careful Nemona! Don't fall off the cliff again!"

"I'm not, I'm not so close this time!" Nemona assured, "Come look!"

When Juliana went to look, she saw what her friend was talking about. A path leading down to what she could see as an opening on the side of the cliff. The path was so narrow though, that they would have to walk on their tip-toes with their backs to the wall to reach it.

Still shaken from what happened a few minutes ago, Juliana knew a better way to go about this, "Koraidon, looks like we're gonna need your help again buddy."

Koraidon was ready to help.

A confused Nemona responded, "How can Koraidon help?"

"I don't know if I ever told you this Nemona, but Koraidon can cling vertically on walls!"

"Whoa, really!?"

Koraidon and Juliana both nodded in unison, making Nemona very surprised, "Está bien! That's so amazing! How about we give it a go?"

Juliana hopped onto Koraidon's back, "Come on Nemona!" Nemona ran and excitedly hopped aboard the legendary's back, sitting right behind Juliana, "Oh, this is just like going into Area Zero! I'm ready, let's go!" She urged.

"Hold on tight!" Juliana warned.

Koraidon took several steps back from the ledge. Once it was a good distance from the cliffside, it sprinted full throttle toward the edge and leapt into the sky. The girls had a breathtaking view of nothing but the sky and the ocean.

Koraidon then spread its wings and whirled around to land itself perfectly onto the rockface. The girls laughed and squealed as all this was happening while holding on for dear life.

"This is SO MUCH FUN!" Nemona yelled ecstatically.

"Don't let go!" Juliana hollered back.

Koraidon effortlessly scaled up the wall to the opening and leapt inside, the sound of its landing echoed all the way down the cave. This caused a group of startled Zubats to flee the cave making screeching noises.

"Watch out!" Juliana warned.

"Whoa, so many Zubat!" Nemona exclaimed.

It took a minute more for all the Zubat to be cleared out, once they did it was silent except for the sounds of the wind.

"Oy! That gave me chills!" Nemona spoke with wide eyes.

"Me too!" Juliana agreed, "Let's look around, there's got to be something in here!"

Nemona squinted her eyes, looking down the long passage, "Hey Juliana, there's something over there!" She pointed at something that was glowing purple.

Juliana looked ahead and saw what she was talking about, "Oh! I see it! Let's go look!"

They approached cautiously making sure not to accidentally surprise any dangerous Pokémon. Once they got near enough, there it was, standing untouched and unseen until now, an ancient ominous stake.

"Oooh! I bet this is the stake that is holding that shrine closed!" Nemona awed.

Juliana stared at it intently, she got within arm's length but not reaching for it.

"Go on, pull it!" Nemona encouraged.

"I'm so nervous right now." Juliana admitted, shaking her hands timidly, "Okay, here goes!" She gripped the handle of the stake, and after a few seconds of mental preparation she lifted it out of the ground. Instantly, the stake crumbled and vanished.

There was nothing but eerie silence, not even the wind.

"What happened to it?" Nemona whispered.

"I don't know." Juliana whispered back, "Was that supposed to happen?"

"Scrrr…"

Both girls froze and began to converse in barely audible voices.

"Nemona…? Was that you?"

Nemona shook her head, "No, I thought that was you."

"Koraidon…?"

Koraidon shook its head quietly.

They stood in place for several seconds before Juliana spoke, "Let's get out of here."

Nemona nodded, and the three left the cave to go back to where the shrine entrance was. The girls hopped on Koraidon's back again and hung on tightly while Koraidon emerged out of the cave and back up the wall to where they first started.

Once they returned to the cave where the shrine door was located, they noticed the chain was now gone.

"Hey look Juliana! The shrine is open!"

"I see that…" Juliana responded, "What do we do now?"

As she approached, she stretched her arm forward to touch the shrine. When she did the door vanished in the blink of an eye.

The girls were startled to see what was before them, a Pokémon comprising a dark-green mossy form covered in dead green and yellow leaves. Two pairs of long, curling vines served as its eyestalks, which contain eyes with green eyelids, orange sclerae, and pale greenish pupils. A long row of wooden tablets curled around its backside formed into a shell.

"What in the world!?" Juliana yelled out.

"Cool!" Nemona raved, "It's actually a Pokémon!"

Juliana used her Pokedex to examine the Pokémon. It read,

Wo-Chien

Ruinous Pokémon

The grudge of a person punished for writing the king's evil deeds upon wooden tablets has clad itself in dead leaves to become a Pokémon.

Juliana looked back at the Pokémon in feared amazement, "So the stories are real…"

"Srciiiibe!" The ancient Pokémon roared.

"Whoa, I think it wants to battle!" Nemona observed.

Juliana stepped forward with a Pokeball in hand, "Daschbun, go!" She threw the Pokeball forward. The canine Pokémon emerged from the ball, "Ruff, ruff!"

Nemona grabbed one of her own Pokeballs and threw it, "Goodra, go!"

The purple dragon type emerged from the Pokeball and stood by Daschbun to do battle. Wo-Chien let out another roar causing dark and red wavelengths to emerge from itself and strike Daschbun and Goodra. The attack seemed to do considerable damage as the Pokémon stumbled to recover.

Startled, Juliana questioned, "What kind of move was that!?"

"I don't know!" Nemona replied, "We have to hit it back!"

"Daschbun, use Play Rough!"

Daschbun leapt forward and played rough with Wo-Chien, causing to sustain a great amount of damage.

"That was a good hit!" Nemona complimented, "Now Goodra, use Dragon Pulse!"

Goodra unleashed a shockwave from its mouth, causing Wo-Chien to recoil slightly when hit by the move. But then it gathered itself and summoned several thick vines to lash at the two Pokémon.

"That's the move called Power Whip!" Juliana pointed out frantically.

"It's so strong!" Nemona replied in amazement.

It sure was, Daschbun and Goodra were starting to tire out fast. Wo-Chien's energy had also appeared to wear down but it surely didn't seem like it was going to give up.

"Goodra, Ice Beam! You can do it!" Nemona encouraged.

Goodra focused carefully and shot an icy-cold beam of energy at Wo-Chien. In a stroke of luck, when the ice attack hit the ruin Pokémon, it suddenly became incased in ice. Both girls reacted with surprise.

"You did it! You froze it solid!" Juliana cheered.

Nemona applauded, "Woo-hoo! All right Goodra!" Goodra turned around and gave a happy smile.

Juliana took an ultra ball she had in her pocket and readied herself. With a steady hand, she flung the ball right at the frozen Wo-Chien and hit it, the ball opened and absorbed the ruin Pokémon inside. The moment the ball hit the ground, it shook and trembled violently despite Wo-Chien being frozen.

"Oh no…" Nemona dreaded, "I hope this works!"

"Trust me!" Juliana assured, despite having a sliver of doubt.

The ball thrusted around and quaked for several heart stopping moments. Nemona got closer to Juliana and gripped on her shoulders while the tension persisted. Juliana had her eyes focused on the wild ultra ball, "Please work… please work…" she kept repeating to herself in her mind.

After several more seconds, the ball finally fell still and silent. Juliana and Nemona stayed still, staring at it.

"Is it… done?" Juliana barely uttered out.

"YOU DID IT!" Nemona shouted abruptly, making Juliana practically leap out of her skin.

"Geez Nemona, you scared me!" Juliana retorted.

"Oy! Sorry about that, I'm just excited!" Nemona explained, "You just captured a really cool Pokémon that no one else has seen before! Now, I know you can't tell anyone but that's something to be proud of!"

Juliana smiled, feeling the tension leave her. She wasn't sure what to say so she ran over to pick up the ultra ball. Koraidon rushed up to Juliana and gave her a nuzzle.

"Hey buddy! Yes, I know." Juliana responded, giggling.

Daschbun and Goodra looked at their trainers with tired expressions.

Juliana crouched in front of her dog Pokémon and gave her a pat, "Good job Daschbun! That was an amazing battle!"

Nemona replied, "You too, Goodra!" She patted her dragon, "That ice beam really saved us!"

"It did." Juliana added, "We got really lucky there."

Daschbun wagged her tail and pounced on Juliana, giving her a few licks.

"Okay, okay!" Juliana laughed, "Good girl! All right, let's put you back in your Poke ball now."

Daschbun let herself go back into the Pokeball, Nemona did the same to Goodra.

"Let's get going!" Nemona persuaded and held out her hand to Juliana, "We've got to find the others now! Those battles are way too exciting to pass up!"

Juliana took her hand and was hoisted up. She brushed her clothing off and replied, "All right, we can get going for the other ones! But let's find a Pokémon Center first."

"Ah, yeah. That's right." Nemona agreed, "Wouldn't want to rush into anything else without taking a breather, huh?"

Juliana nodded, "Mm-hmm! So, let's do that!"

So, the girls did just that, they headed out to find the nearest Pokémon Center. Which wasn't a difficult task because they had maps.

Juliana decided to add, "You know what that Pokémon reminded me of? Gastrodon."

Nemona pondered it, then replied, "Oh! That slug Pokémon! Yeah, I can see why. The body shapes are kind of the same."

"Except less scary looking." Juliana muttered. The girls shared a chuckle while continuing on their way to the Pokémon Center.

One caught, three more to go.

Author's Note: All right! The first Ruin Pokémon has been captured!

Hopefully you all enjoyed. I had some difficulty but I am happy with how this turned out.

See you all next time!