(I realized that last chapter I accidentally called Allison her older sister's name the entire time, so that's fixed now.)

The fire threw embers as Donald threw another log on. The flames licked at the night sky, and the chilly night air licked at me with every chance it got. It made me wonder if the Mouth Of Arceus ever got cold while being engulfed in Morning Sun. Across the fire I could see Allison was directing Percius in the erecting of tents, a larger one for the three of us and a small one for her. She refused to actually help put up the tents, and instead assisted by telling Percius he wasn't doing it right and how he could improve, with Percius mostly replying with grumbles and asking her if she'd actually like to help, to which the reply was always that she was in fact helping. Eventually the two got the tents up and came to sit with Donald and me. Donald had been assigned the role of chef, and was currently grilling Wooloo chops over a piece of metal set on legs above the open flame.

"Is the food done yet?" Allison whined as she sat down in the grass, smoothing her skirt as she did. Somehow through riding Candy Dancer at a full gallop to catch up with Donald and micromanaging the camp set up she had remained completely pristine.

"No." Donald replied immediately. "These things take time, and I'm not gonna mess it up just because you want to eat raw meat." Donald side-eyed Allison, whose face puckered in annoyance at being talked to in such a way. I smiled a bit at seeing Allison annoyed with someone who wasn't me. "Why don't you tell us the Creation Story for the eight hundredth time?"

I remembered the Creation Story had been brought up recently. I only knew some stories about the Legendary Pokemon, and only about Lugia The Devastator and Ho-Oh The Wish Granter. "What's the Creation Story?"

Allison rolled her eyes before they settled on me. "I forgot you don't know it. Fine, I guess I'll tell it again." Donald gave me a look of hooded annoyance which I knew meant he didn't actually want Allison to tell the Creation Story again. Percius, instead of listening, opted to stand and begin removing his plate armor.

"In the beginning," Allison began, with Donald parroting her in a mocking tone. She looked at him pointedly before beginning again. "In the beginning, there was only Arceus The Creator. He peered into the empty void and allowed a moment to pass and Himself to pass through that moment. In doing so, He created Palkia The Spacewalker and Dialgia The Timekeeper. He looked to his creations, and saw that He could not, so he created Solgaleo The Blazing Sun and Lunala The Gentle Moon. Together the two kept the empty void alight, as when one rested, the other awoke to continue shining."

"I still don't believe that the sun and the moon are Pokemon." Percius spoke flatly as he set his discarded chestplate in the grass.

"You don't have to believe because they are. This isn't myth or legend, it's history." Allison scoffed in return.

"If it's not legend then why are they called 'Legendary' Pokemon?"

"I don't know, probably the same reason they call you a 'legendary' jerk. Anyways-" Allison sighed exasperatedly. "Arceus The Creator looked upon this void and saw it was empty, and into the void He created the world and with the world He created many Pokemon to keep everything in check. First He created Groudon The Earthraiser and Kyogre The Waveraiser to shape the land and the sea. He saw how they feuded, and created Rayquaza The Skywatcher to keep them at piece, though Rayquaza The Skywatcher eventually turned the two to dormant stone and sealed them away, before settling in a tower his worshippers had built for him."

"There were people around when Groudon The Earthraiser and Kyogre The Waveraiser were feuding?" I felt like I had missed something but Allison immediately adjusted her explanation.

"Not until later, but we don't really know what Rayquaza The Skywatcher was doing until they build him that tower."

"And where is the tower?"

"I don't know, I'm just telling the story. Where was I? Right, the worshippers made the tower and Rayquaza The Skywatcher settled into it and has been resting since. After he entered his slumber, Arceus The Creator made Tornadus The Cyclone and Thundurus The Booming to watch over the skies and bring rain and wind to the lands. After this, Arceus The Creator looked upon the world He had created and thought of it as good, though He noticed it was very empty. To fix this problem, He created Mew The All-Being, and gave it the power to create whatever it pleases. It came to our world and first created Pokemon."

"What Pokemon did it make first?" Donald taunted, which got a glare from Allison.

"The jury's still out on that one." Allison replied through lips puckered in annoyance. "But the general consensus is either Bulbasaur or Rhydon. Now if I can tell the story without being interrupted-" she turned back to look at the fire. "Mew The All-Being created Pokemon, and Arceus The Creator looked down and saw they were good, but required guidance, so He created humans. Humans were given special powers by Arceus The Creator, and through those powers they created their own Pokemon."

I shook my head in disbelief. "We created Pokemon? We used to be able to just... make a Pokemon?"

"Kind of. The Pokemon ancient humans created were less 'created' and more 'collectively thought into existence'. Like how Zacian The Blade and Zamazenta The Shield were created out of storytelling and not from a force of nature." Allison explained. "Mew The All-Bringer also created some Legendary Pokemon, like... are you paying attention?"

I was trying, truly I was, but I was more confused than anything else. It was a lot of names in a short amount of time. "Who are... Zacian The Blade and Zamazenta The Shield?"

Allison looked like she had been punched in the gut as she looked with disgusted confusion at the ground. "Isn't your father a devote Arceian? How do you not know these things? Zacian The Blade and Zamazenta The Shield are powerful warrior Pokemon who are said to have been a gift to First Emperor Of Empir Romanilus Pyron by The Mouth Of Arceus in return for the creation of the Church Of Arceus and the creation of the Plates Of Arceus. I'm sure you've at least seen them, they're the two large red and blue dog Pokemon who lay at the feet of the throne in the stained glass depiction of Emperor Romanilus, and currently they're owned by Third Emperor Pyridicus Pyron and are, obviously, very real."

"I've never seen them." Percius said flatly as he removed his greaves.

"And hopefully you never will, or you'd be an enemy of the entire empire and probably immediately die." Donald scoffed with a smirk. "Zacian and Zamazenta aren't Pokemon you should try to mess around with. There's two reasons Ombrea can't breach the borders of Empir and they're both of them."

Two Pokemon that could hold off an entire rival empire seemed completely unbelievable, but it certainly made my heart beat faster and I reached up to touch Excalibur's scarf around my neck. "Which emperor made Ghost type Pokemon illegal?"

"Pyridicus." Allison confirmed which caused my breath to catch in my throat. "It's said anyone he personally finds carrying a Ghost type Pokemon is immediately killed."

I stood up, now clutching the scarf around my neck. I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I stood gaping like a Magikarp for several seconds too long as everyone turned to look at me. "I'll be back." I finally choked out and started for the tree line.

What had come over me? I looked at my hands which shook so horribly that clenching them into fists didn't even stop it. What was I so afraid of? It couldn't be the emperor, there was no way I'd ever even meet him in person. Was it the thought of the emperor? The fact that there was even a sliver of a chance that I'd have to stand before the emperor and lie to his face about having a Ghost type Pokemon? The fact that he might see right through me and kill me in an instant with Pokemon who could hold off entire empires on their own?

"You good?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as I pulled Excalibur and turned to point it at whatever spoke, and found Donald on the other side. "You ran off pretty quickly, just wanna be sure you're not going insane on us. Ghost Hunters are known to do that, but usually they encounter more than just a group of Sableye before that."

"I'm fine just... the fire was getting a little too hot and I needed to cool down a bit." I lied. I hoped I wasn't going insane. To be honest, I didn't even know that was an option.

Donald was quiet for a moment. "Listen, Jackson, if you need someone to talk to about your Ghost Hunter stuff, I'm open to helping you out. My mother was a Ghost Hunter, so I know a little about that kind of stuff."

I looked at Donald with confusion. Donald had never openly made an effort to hate me, but he also hadn't been much help against Allison and Percius when I first joined, so I wasn't inclined to believe that he wanted to help me, but I smiled anyways. "Thanks."

"We should get back to camp." Donald walked over and put a hand on my shoulder with a smile. "I told Percius to watch the food and he has no idea how to cook."