Whew. Once again, this is long overdue, because I am slow, but here is another Tales of Arrival update which has some very enticing bits. Well hopefully you find them enticing. Anyway here's:

Chapter 5: Multi-Mystery

Nyra was displeased. Very displeased.

Her troops still hadn't secured the area around the meteor. This was a vital task! If they couldn't then-

Slam. The doors to her throne room were flung wide open.

A tall Cinderace in a sharp military jacket stepped in. He marched briskly before stopping in front of Nyra's throne.

"Ahem. Empress Nyra, if I may?"

She gave a beaky smile. "Ah, General Mullein. You may"

"I have come to deliver a report."

"Of what sort?"

Mullein chuckled. "Excellent rhyme there, my lady. Anyway the report is of some mons of interest."

"...Show me."

Mullein produced a strange, Clamperl-shell-like device. It opened to project the holographic image of a certain adventuring party.

"Another group of adventurers seems to be headed for the crater."

Nyra looked closely with her sharp owl eyes and scowled.

"Something bugs me about this group but I'm not sure what... They could be a threat to the plan. Send in troops ro investigate."

"As you wish my dear."

And Mullein marched briskly out.

Kratos and his newly expanded crew were moving onward. The la landscape had opened up to a grassy field with sparse trees, the sun shining gently down on them.

"So where were we headed again?" said Faxi.

"Trying tio head to where that meteor hit!" said Riki.

"Why? It's just a rock." said Laila.

"I'm a rock," said Fornax, deadpan.

"Listen," said Edbark. "It's totally super special and we-"

"Wait." said Kratos.

His ears twitched. Ever since he'd gotten them he'd noticed they were strong, and could pick up on many things.

And they could hear something coming their way.

"...There is potential danger near." said Kratos.

"...Where? I don't see anything," said Riki.

"Over there!" said Laila.

The party turned to look. There was indeed a shifting mass heading straight toward them.

"What is that?" said Riki.

The mass grew closer, revealing it to be an eclectic collection of mons in strange uniforms.

"Wait, are those-" Faxi started to say.

"Halt!"

A strange draconic creature wearing apple rinds as wings moved to the forefront of the crowd.

"Under the order of Empress Nyra you are under arrest!"

"I'm perfectly awake, thank you," said Riki. .

The Flapple sputtered. "You know what I mean! I, Lieutenant Grimhilde, need to capture you lot!"

"Well then we should probably get out of here!" said Edbark.

"...Agreed," said Kratos, realizing his current form probably couldn't take on this many Pokemon.

The party broke into a run.

"Wh- You can't do that!" said Grimhilde.

She and her army began to pursue.

The gang kept running. However, the squad of soldiers quickly started gaining.

"What are we gonna do?" said Faxi.

"Die I guess," said Fornax.

"Preferably not that!" said Laila.

"Keep your heads together!" said Kratos.

"I- I have an idea!" said Edbark.

"Wait, are you gonna-" said Riki.

Suddenly,there was a shimmering effect around the group. Everyone stopped. "Hey! Where'd they go?" said a voice outside the shimmering. There was the noise of many moving Pokemon. Eventually the noises quieted, then faded into nothing. Edbark the whole time was standing stock still,eyes scrunched closed,visibly straining himself.

"...Edbark I think they're gone, " said Riki.

The illusion dissipated. Edbark collapsed,coughing. Riki rushed to his side.

"You can't do that Edbark!"said Riki. "You know you can't handle it!"

"I just... Made us invisible..." said Edbark.

"And what, exactly, happened?" said Kratos.

"See, Edbark's a Zorua," said Riki. "They can make all these fancy something happened with Edbark and he has a hard time doing them anymore, It really strains him."

"So he's.. Illusion impaired?" said Kratos.

"Basically," said Riki.

"That's rough buddy," said Fornax.

"I-I'm fine, really..." said Edbark.

"Could someone carry him? Not me my back is too, er delicate," said Faxi.

"I can!" said Laila. "I love lifting things!" She quickly scooped up a moaning Edbark in her tentacles.

"Who were those Pokemon pursuing us?"

"That was the Quiver Empire!" said Riki. "They're led by the Decidueye Empress Nyra! They just... showed up one day and started conquering everything they could!"

Kratos was reminded of a group from back home known as The Desians, who wished to subjugate any they deemed lesser.

He thought briefly of his own connection to the Desians, and their true purpose to bring an end to all beings.

...No, couldn't be. And it wasn't like he could tell these Pokemon of his past. He would have to find a way to deal with this... but later.

:"...Sounds dangerous. We should avoid them if we can."

"Most definitely..." said Faxi.

"We should get going," said Fornax.

"Let's go then!" said Laila.

The gang slowly, awkwardly, shuffled off, Laila carrying ann exhausted Edbark the whole way.

The group eventually came across a small city. It was simple in structure, but had some noticeably large buildings scattered around it. The group entered casually without attracting much attention from the Pokemon there.

"This should be a good stop to rest," said Kratos.

"Good idea probably," said Riki.

Laila plopped Edbark down on a nearby wooden bench. He groaned and moved to get more comfortable.

It was then Kratos noticed an unusual pair of Pokemon. One was a tall, black and white mustelid wearing a fuzzy gray coat. The other was a yellow and green doglike Pokemon in a tight-fitting jacket. It wasn't long before they noticed him back.

"Hmmm... He could be the one," said the mustelid.

"...Really. He just walked into town," said the dog.

"We haven't found anyone willing to help IN town," said the mustelid.

"...Fair point," said the dog.

They steadily approached no, Kratos thought. He had enough adventuring experience to know where this was going. The pair stopped in front of him.

"Excuse me sir," said the mustelid.

"...Yes?"

The dog sighed. "We have a proposition for you."

"And what exactly is it?" said Kratos.

By now the other members of the party had noticed and were gathering.

"We need your help with an investigation!" said the mustelid.

"Ooh, sounds exciting," said Faxi.

"I'm up for it," said Fornax.

"Once Edbark gets rested yup sure," said Riki.

"Ooh, I wanna punch the culprit at the end!" said Laila.

Kratos' internal oh nos intensified.

"Excellent." said the mustelid. "But first, introductions. I am Heinwald."

"And I am Curran," said the dog.

"We're looking for an especially wily culprit," said Heinwald.

Kratos sighed. "Such as?"

"We're trying to find the identity of an assassin," said Curran. "But like... a really bad one."

"They've caused countless screwups and blunders we need to get to the bottom of," said Heinwald. "And we've tracked them down to... the downtown of this very city!"

Everyone in the party but Kratos gasped.

"Once your friend is rested we can start investigating." said Heinwald.

Kratos let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

With Edbark recovered and having enthusiastically agreed to the situation, the group were now looking for clues downtown. Everyone was diligently searching different parts looking for clues.

"Not here," said Kratos.

"Not here," said Riki

"Not here!" said Laila.

"Wait! I found something!" said Edbark.

He pointed to a trail of some kind of dried fluid.

"Aha!" said Heinwald. "We've spotted this dried fluid at other places the assassin hs striked!"

Edbark sniffed at the trail until it led to the doors of a mansion.

A very large mansion.

"Oh there," said Curran. "They say that place is haunted."

"Very haunted," said Heinwald.

"HAUNTED?!" said the party aside from Kratos.

Kratos sighed. As if the ghosts of his past weren't bad enough.

Cerdiwen and Pari Passu were at a desk, studying a book. A nearby door opened and Stoakes entered.

"Whatcha two looking at?"

"We're reading up on the history of The Seeking!" said Pari Passu. "We're trying to find the origin of the mysterious red meteor..."

"And I think we've already found a lead,"said Cerdiwen.

She pointed at a particular point in the book. Stoakes went over to check.

"This says something about a... Red light being seen during the Seeking. It's happened before... Just not this extreme."

"Precisely," said Cerdiwen. "Definitely cause for concern..."

"You think we should bring Ho-Oh into this?" said Stoakes. "This could affect the entire realm..."

"Not... a bad idea," said Pari Passu.

"Yes, let's," said Cerdiwen.

The trio grabbed the book and shuffled off to find Ho-Oh.

Ho-Oh was staring at the book extremely intently. A very worried expression was etched onto his avian face. The other three watched him with great anxiety.

"Well?" said Pari Passu, nervously tapping his cane. "What do you think?"

"...This." said Ho-Oh. "Is very bad. It was already clear whatever we're dealing with is not of this world. But this indicates.. I don't know for certain but it could be worse than even that."

"Then what do we do?" said Cerdiwen. "We need to protect our people..."

"We need further investigation," said Ho-oh. "Secure a piece of the meteor if possible. We need to know what this thing is and how much of a threat ir presents."

"I can get the Adventurer's Guild to hunt for any leads,' said stoakes.

He nodded sternly.

"Mark my words, your grace, we WILL get to the bottom of this."

Stella was sparring in a large field, similar to the field Kratos and co were in before, and in close proximity, though mercifully free of Quiver Empire forces.

Her sparring partner was a Sirfetch'd in black and green armor, who was deftly countering her swipes with his leek blade.

"Ha! Haha! Good show Stella, that's enough for now."

"Very well, Sir Quackmire."

Sir Quackmire gazed out into the distance. "I do love our training sessions but there's a meteor to be found! Adventure awaits!"

Stella let out a log, drawn out sigh. Shwe wanted to tell him, he was her mentor, her friend, but she knew she couldn't yet.

But this awaiting adventure would be far from simple.