Juliana woke up to the sun lighting up her room, stretching her arms above her head. She looked to the floor to see Koraidon curled up next to her bed still snoozing away. She smiled at it before hopping out of bed in her t-shirt and shorts. Her rotom phone ringed in her backpack on her desk, prompting her to answer it.

"Juliana!" Nemona's voice sounded over the speaker.

"Hey Nemona, did you just wake up?"

"I did! I'm so excited to find the other two ruin Pokémon today, so I thought I'd give you a little wake-up call! From yours truly, Nemona!"

Juliana laughed, "You're five seconds late on that, I was already awake."

"Oh darn!" Nemona retorted, "Well anyway, I'm going to grab a quick bite and then go wait in the entrance hall for you. So, I'll be ready when you are!"

"All right Nemona, just give me some time and I'll be ready ASAP. I'll see you in a little bit."

"No problem! See you soon!"

As soon as they hung up and Juliana started to change, the phone rang again. Juliana smiled and whispered, "What did you forget to tell me Nemona?"

But it wasn't Nemona, it was Arven. Juliana nervously answered, "Hello?"

"Hey Juliana!" His voice responded, "I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Oh, no! You didn't! I was already awake." Juliana assured quickly, "So what's going on?"

"Nothing really, I was just checking on you. When you came back to the academy with Nemona, you looked completely wiped out."

Juliana thought to herself, "Oh no… It's that feeling again… the feeling that I should tell him the truth… but I can't!"

"Oh, thank you for checking on me Arven. But I'm better now, no worries! I slept like a log… haha…"

Arven chuckled, "Hahaha! Well, that's good to know! So, what are you doing today?"

"I'm… meeting with Nemona again today. She and I had a pretty deep conversation yesterday and… I want to continue that… it was really emotional and heavy for us."

"O-Oh, I see." Arven replied calmly.

"Y-Yeah! I want to make sure it's all out of her system."

"Wow, I uh… never pictured her as the type to carry… you know, burdens. She just seems so perky all the time I… well, I'm glad you're being a good friend to her Juliana. You're always so sweet."

Juliana felt a blush, "Thank you Arven. I'll see you later, okay?"

"All right Juliana, love you."

"Love you too, Arven."

After hanging up, Juliana sighed guiltily knowing that she wasn't being completely honest, "How can I bring something like this up to him? Especially with how Raifort was speaking about Professor Sada…?" She brushed those thoughts aside, and got herself ready for the day.

After grabbing a quick rice ball from the school store, Juliana rushed out to meet with Nemona. As she walked, she looked at her rotom map to find out where the last two shrines were. Her eyes focused on one that was located in the Northern Province. She decided that would be the one they would focus on. After she left out the front doors, she finished up the last bites of her rice ball just as she saw Nemona near the stairs and approached her.

Nemona spotted her immediately and began waving excitedly, "Hey fellow champion! Where to next?"

Juliana brushed her hands together to remove the crumbs, "Hey Nemona! Still excited as ever I see! We're gonna head to the Northern Province, that's where one shrine is."

"The Northern Province, all right! There are a lot of strong Pokémon there! Let's get going right away!"

As usual they called a flying taxi and asked to be taken to area two because that's where the shrine would be located. On the way there, Juliana took a good look at Glaseado Mountain and remembered the adventure she had in that winter wonderland.

"That place was freezing." Juliana recalled.

Nemona replied, "The mountain? Oh yeah, it was! But it felt great at the same time!"

"How were you so unaffected by it?" Juliana questioned humorously.

"Eh, I'm not so sure I was unaffected. But hey! I was more focused on the challenges!"

Juliana laughed at that response, at that moment the taxi had arrived to drop them off at their location, in front of Fury Falls. When they stepped off and waved bye to the taxi, Nemona immediately got into the spirit, "All right, where to now?"

"The shrine is supposed to be somewhere around here." Juliana pointed at a place on the map where there appeared to be rocky terrain, "If this one is just like the others, the stake shouldn't be too far from there too."

"So… I guess we'll get searching now?"

Instead of answering right away, Juliana stared at the dual waterfalls. Nemona noticed and stood by her side, also watching.

"It's a beauty, right?" Nemona observed, "Just two waterfalls? It's no wonder this is one of the Ten Sights of Paldea."

"Mm-hmm." Juliana nodded, "It's very beautiful. And according to my map, the shrine is right on the other side of the falls."

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, which means we need to ask a little someone for help." Juliana spoke with a playful tone, "Koraidon?" Koraidon popped out of its Pokeball in response.

"Little!? Koraidon isn't little at all! It's big and strong!"

Juliana shook her head with a grin, "That was a figure of speech Nemona."

Nemona paused, "O-Oh… my bad." She smiled with an embarrassed expression.

"Agai?" Koraidon appeared confused.

"Hi bud! We need your help once again! We want to climb up the waterfalls."

Koraidon nodded happily and allowed the girls to climb on its back again, once the girls were ready, it leapt over the pond and latched itself on the rock wall between the two waterfalls. It scaled the walls, going higher and higher until it reached a ledge where Koraidon could stand. There, they got a front row view of a third waterfall, larger than the first two, raining into a tiny surface that split the waters flow into two directions.

Juliana felt small sprinkles of water on her face, "Whoaaa! This looks so cool! I didn't know this was here!" Her eyes sparkled with wonder.

"Wow!" Nemona responded in kind, "I bet we're the only ones to have seen this! We're so awesome!"

Koraidon was also happy, it admired the sight for a moment before Juliana directed it to keep climbing. It leapt and lodged itself on the right side of the waterfall and continued to climb. The girls couldn't help but enjoy the moment, fresh cool air rushed through their hair, drops of water tickled their faces.

As their hearts beat joyfully with excitement, Koraidon reached another ledge where they could view the top of the third waterfall. There, they saw a cave entrance where the water was flowing from alongside a small, island-like spot with grass and a single tree. Next to it, was a bright blue stake.

"Hey, Nemona look! The stake is there!" Juliana pointed.

"I see it, I see it!" Nemona excitedly repeated, "Come on, let's go get it!"

Koraidon made an effortless leap onto the island, landing right next to the stake. The girls dismounted and stared at the stake.

Nemona remarked, "Well that was easy huh?"

"Sure was." Juliana agreed, "Hey, that view was amazing though. I wonder what this ruin Pokémon will be like?"

"Only one way to find out."

Juliana grabbed hold of the stake and gave it a tug, like all the others it crumbled and vanished when lifted from the ground.

"Sp…Sp…"

The girls were startled to hear that the noise had echoed from the cave right next to them.

Nemona expressed in shock, "Whoa, it's so close this time! What could it look like?"

"Let's go see." Juliana stated cautiously, "Let's go Koraidon, swim into that cave entrance."

Koraidon did as instructed and hopped into the water, swimming to the cave. It was a simple task since the water was calm. As they proceeded further into the cave, they could hear the wind echoing off the walls with a howling sound. Drops of water fell from the ceiling and landed into the water at a slow pace.

As they rounded a corner, a Noivern shrieked and flew directly at them making both girls yelp in surprise. Thankfully, there was a flat surface Koraidon was able to hop on, and with the girls still on its back, it let loose from its mouth an intense blast of fire. Despite Noivern being part dragon-type, it was intimidated by Koraidon's flamethrower and fled the cave.

The girls waited in silence for a few moments before Juliana spoke up with her hand placed over her pounding heart, "Okay, that scared me, good job Koraidon. Thank you for that." She patted it.

Nemona let out a sharp exhale, "Whew, that was a close call. Good thing we have Koraidon protecting us huh?"

"Seriously, good work Koraidon." Juliana dismounted, her legs still trembling from the adrenaline.

"Agaais." Koraidon responded, looking proud of itself.

"Juliana! Look what we've found!" Nemona called out. Juliana walked around Koraidon to see and saw the blue shrine door that was marked on the map.

"Oh hey, you found it!" Juliana stated with relief, hoping that this would mean no more jump-scares. Nemona stood by and waited enthusiastically as Juliana walked up to the shrine, once she got close, she reached out to touch it. The shrine door disappeared and out came a Pokémon that resembled a Goldeen.

The girls were surprised at how tiny it was, however, that didn't make it any less terrifying. Its body formed by a dark red and yellow flame. It's eyes were formed by two pairs of curved jade beads, each of the pairs circled a black orb coated by white around the sides.

Chi-Yu

Ruin Pokémon

The envy accumulated within curved beads that sparked multiple conflicts has clad itself in fire and become a Pokémon.

"Wow, this one is… almost cute." Juliana noted.

"I wouldn't call it that from what the dex said about it." Nemona replied with caution, "Envy is not a fun emotion."

Juliana observed Chi-Yu and grabbed Palafin's dive ball again, "Come on out again Palafin!"

Palafin happily chirped out of the dive ball, well rested from last night's sleep.

"I'll use my starter again!" Nemona stated, "Quaquaval, let's go!"

The two water-types stood side by side once again. Chi-Yu was unimpressed by the Pokémon that stood before it and expressed that by inhaling, then exhaling an inferno of scarlet flames. Palafin and Quaquaval thankfully moved out of the way in time. Both girls gasped in horror seeing the flames headed their way.

"JULIANA LOOK OUT!" Nemona shrieked and pounced onto her friend, both tumbled to the ground as the flames rushed by them and torched the wall behind them, creating an ashy, burnt smell.

"Oh my gosh, that was close!" Juliana expressed shock, "Are you okay, Nemona?"

"I'm fine!" Nemona replied and hopped to her feet, helping Juliana up as well, she then commanded, "Quaquaval, use aqua step!"

The dancing duck attacked using light and fluid dance steps. Juliana followed up with, "Palafin, use dive!"

Palafin hid under the water.

"Quaquaval, use brick break!"

Quaquaval went to attack with a swift chop but Chi-Yu bounced high into the air, bursting clear through the rock ceiling.

"What the-!?" Nemona yelped, "That's the move, bounce!"

A startled Juliana noted frantically, "It went right through the ceiling!?"

Quaquaval stopped in his tracks and turned his head left and right, trying to find his target. A few moments of silence passed when Chi-Yu crashed back down through the ceiling, dropping on top of the water duck.

"Oh no, Quaquaval!" Nemona cried out. As Quaquaval laid on the ground in pain, Chi-Yu flounced off above the water. Juliana made an impish grin.

"Palafin…dive…"

Palafin darted up from the water and slammed into Chi-Yu from below, then sprung back from the water with a playful flip of the tail.

"Nice one Juilana!" Nemona complimented, "Also, Chi-Yu looks tired."

Chi-Yu was drooping where it floated, recognizing the opportunity, Juliana took a stance and readied an ultra ball. She stretched her arm behind her and focused on the ruin Pokémon. Then she flung the capture device and hit it on the forehead. After it was absorbed inside, it wiggled around for a short while before becoming still. Interestingly, this time it wasn't as volatile of a shake as the others.

"All right! You caught it, Juliana!" Nemona cheered.

Juliana exhaled sharply, "That was quite the battle. It's a good thing we managed through it!" After putting away the ultra ball, she turned around to see Nemona helping Quaquaval to his feet.

"Nemona, is Quaquaval going to be okay?"

Nemona smiled reassuringly, "He just needs some rest, that's all. Don't worry, he'll be fine! It takes a lot more than that to bring us down, right Quaquaval?"

Quaquaval nodded with a confident smile, making Juliana giggle. Koraidon approached Juliana and licked her face, "Oh Koraidon, you're so silly, buddy!" She laughed out loud.

"All right Quaquaval, return!" Nemona recalled the dancing duck to its pokeball, "All right Juliana, where to next?"

Juliana sighed in relief, "Well that's three down, only one more to go and that's going to be in the Western Province."

"You got it!" Nemona gave an approving expression, "Let's get going!"

"But first!" Juliana interrupted, "We need to visit a Pokémon Center!"

"Ah! That's right!"

The two girls hopped upon a waiting Koraidon and swam out of the cave. The next destination would be their final stop on this mini journey.

Arven sat on a bench near the center of the Mesagoza, anxiously awaiting a reply to his message. He had sent one to Juliana more than ten minutes ago and worrying more with each passing minute. This wasn't anything he would usually worry about, but this time, something in his gut was telling him different.

Trying to shrug it off, Arven stood and headed back into the school. While in the main entrance he decided to head over to the many bookshelves and study and kill time. He didn't notice a certain history teacher keeping her eye on him. She had an irritated expression watching him, "Hmm… that boy could be useful somehow…" She continued to watch him as he flipped through a book, then an eerie grin creeped on her face.

Arven flipped through the pages of the book, trying to find some motivation without having any luck. When out of nowhere…

"Hi there!" Raifort abruptly appeared in front of him.

"Whoa!" Arven jumped back, "Sheesh, you scared me!"

"Sorry about that." The history professor apologized mischievously, "That's a bad habit of mine."

Arven looked at her curiously, "Wait, aren't you Professor Raifort? The history teacher?"

"Precisely."

"Did you… need anything?"

Raifort kept a lighthearted tone, "I was just wondering something, now I know this might sound REALLY inappropriate to discuss considering I'm a professor and you're a student buuut… you are dating miss Juliana? Yes?"

Arven was surprised at the question, but he answered nonetheless, "I am. But… what about it?"

"Do you happen to know where she is now? I'm looking for her."

"May I ask what for?" Arven asked. Raifort felt annoyed at the question but tried to keep it cool, "She did ask me the other day about a story I told in class a while ago. I wanted to check in on that, but I can't find her anywhere. The story I told her was about the Treasures of Ruin, she seemed really curious about it. Have you heard of that story Arven?"

Arven pondered, "Yeah, I've heard of that story, but…" He trailed off, remembering that Juliana had brought up the same subject the other day. His expression turned into a fearful one realizing that Juliana had been leaving somewhere unknown to him, hadn't answered his texts, and that horrible feeling in his gut that he hasn't been able to shake all day.

"No, no… she can't be… She can't be!"

"What are you talking about?" Raifort inquired.

Instead of answering, Arven took off sprinting away from her and out the front doors.

"Hey, hold up!" Raifort tried to call out to him, but he was already gone, "Ugh… what a pain…" She muttered, "I was gonna use him somehow to see if Juliana was doing what I asked her too… ugh… I guess I just have to keep waiting…"

She continued to grumble as she walked away.

Author's Note: Hopefully you all enjoyed despite the battle with this one being a bit shorter than the others. I'm saving the excitement for the next chapter. A lot of stuff will be going on next time, so be excited for that!

See you all next time!