Dearest sister,
We are currently stationed on the border of Ombrea, awaiting further orders to either withdrawal and return to Ecclessi City or begin our trek into foreign territory in search of the person who dared to send a Ghost over the border from those lawless lands into our blessed ones. The Emperor believes they should be dealt with swiftly, but supposedly his advisors are suggesting it may look like an act of war for us to breach the border with such a mission. Only time will tell.
Your last letter struck me as odd. A Ghost Hunter is not a bad thing to have on your team. Even we had a Ghost Hunter once; may Arceus rest her soul; but she did a wonderful job before she required dispatching. If I were to give you advice on how to deal with him, the advice I would give is that you simply must. Perhaps treat him like Father treats the Unfezant: remember that he is there as a resource, and keep him at arm's length. Best not to get attached to someone whose final act may be turning on you under the control of another.
How is Ballet doing? I'm interested to hear what sort of special powers that oddly colored Ralts has gained during her training alongside you. I'm sure you remember when she hatched in your arms. Blessed by the love you poured into caring for her egg, surely. Paling Moon and I have been missing you both dearly, and we hope to see you again before Spectre's Night.
With all of my love,
Priestess Emilia Fayeri
I stared down at the letter that had been waiting for me when we returned to our dorms. What Jackson had told me about his colleague in Ombrea made my stomach twist as the thought that perhaps Professor Van Hallsworth had sent the Ghost Pokemon across the border entered my mind before I shoved it as far back into my brain as I could. The last thing I needed was a Prophet or Psychic to link me or Jackson or anyone else on my team to a national scandal that could lead to reigniting war between two empires. I stood from my writing desk and tugged the ribbon around my waist to tighten it before walking out into the hallway. Best to find my idiots before they did something idiotic.
I couldn't believe she had told me to treat Jackson like Father treated the Unfezant. As though I should call him Dark Cave or Mind Control or some other time I thought he might be killed, and then standby and watch as it happens. Surely that's not what she meant, what she meant was that I should not become attached to him, and I had no plans to. Truly I had no plans to become attached to anyone in the Arceian Church, and had executed that plan so perfectly that I had even cut ties with Ophelia, despite having known her before she and I both joined the church. I did not even know where Ophelia was at that very moment and planned to keep it that way for as long as possible. Which apparently was only about fifteen more seconds as she called my name.
"Allison!" Her voice pierced the silence of the hallway like a rock smashing through a stained glass window. "We just got back from our first real mission! I was so cool! I rode on the back of Pippy for the first time and I shot my bow at a rampaging Tropius while flying through the sky! I wanted to catch the Tropius but Emery got it before I could."
"I'm sorry to hear that, though I'm glad you mission went well." I responded flatly. "Pippy is your Pidgeotto, right?"
"Pippy evolved into a Pidgeot last week, actually!" Ophelia announced with a bright smile that only made me clench my teeth harder. Ophelia and I had gotten our Pokemon at the same time. I had hatched Ballet on exactly the same day she had found her Pidgey, and yet she was constantly outdoing me. Pippy had evolved before Ballet. Ophelia had been allowed to join the Church before me. Now she was telling me that Pippy had not only evolved into her final evolution before Ballet, but that she had evolved before Ophelia had even gone on her first mission.
"That's wonderful to hear. I'm sure Pippy has gotten much stronger from those experiences." I remained outwardly calm as I traced my way through the hallways, hoping that at some point the little brat would break off and do something on her own for once while I looked in the usual places for my teammates. Cafeteria, training hall, library, dorm room.
"I heard your team got a new member! A Ghost Hunter? That sounds so cool! They're always so dark and brooding and mysterious! Can I meet them sometime? That's totally my type." Ophelia's voice was so loud and piercing it was hard to think straight.
"Sure." I replied before realizing the person she was talking about was walking towards me in that very moment. He passed us without acknowledgement, without even a nod or a simple hello. I spun on my heels to follow him. "Jackson." He stopped, but didn't turn to look at me. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to register Achilles."
For a boy who couldn't read, he certainly had a penchant for names from mythological stories. "The bug?"
"Yeah."
"Is that your Ghost Hunter?" Ophelia gasped, leaning her hand on me heavily before whispering in my ear. "He's so hot."
I suppose if you were interested in muscular farm boys, Jackson had a certain look about him, but it was heavily marred by his ugly facial expressions and depressive attitude. I crossed my arms and decided to ignore Ophelia, stepping towards Jackson. "You can't."
"Don't I have to?" Jackson furrowed his brows and his lips creased into a line. There was one of them. One of his ugly facial expressions. He couldn't show confusion with a graceful purse of his lips and a raised eyebrow, he had to scrunch his entire face like the absolute idea that something may be slightly more complex than it was at surface level was enough to attempt to turn his entire head inside out.
"You do, but you can't register it as a bug! They'll take it away from you. You have to spin it so they believe its a Dark type Pokemon." I explained simply. "Remember how it crawled out of a dead Nincada in a cave? Say it's a symbiotic parasite."
"Okay." Jackson nodded. If there was one thing that made up for Jackson's stupid face, it was the fact that I didn't have to push and prod him to get him to listen when I talked. Not like Percius or Donald. Jackson walked away and I turned to go find the rest of my team, nearly running into Ophelia who had come up behind me. I stood there for a moment looking down at her, her face spread into a smile that said that she knew something I didn't. "What?"
"Nothin'." Ophelia let out an amused breath through her nose before turning to, unfortunately, continue to follow me. "But seriously, what a lucky Ducklett you are, huh? A team with all boys. You've got a whole reverse harem going on!"
"Ophelia." I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose.
"Oh, come on. You can't tell me that you don't think Percius is hot! He's got such a bad boy thing going on and that red armor is so spiky and cool." Ophelia nearly falls over swooning. "Between him and that Ghost Hunter, I'd never be able to decide!"
"And Donald?" I prodded, glancing at her.
"Who?" She snickered. I didn't think that was quite fair, though. Percius and Jackson may appear to be physically strong, but Donald was very smart. Percius wasn't a push-over in that department either, as much as people thought I used him primarily as muscle, which I did if I was being honest. And Jackson... Jackson was untrained and unprepared, but it made him able to think of solutions to problems that perhaps those of us with more training or self-preservation skills wouldn't think of.
I decided to finally address her, stopping and turning to look at Ophelia. "Is there something you need from me or are you just going to follow me around all day?"
Ophelia stopped as well, putting a hand on her hip, her smile remaining despite my rudeness in addressing her. "Prophet Kelsie wants your team to work with mine for a mission. Something about a group of flying Dragons that need to be dealt with in the Dracollis Conurbation."
"So you need my team's Fairy and Dragon types and your team's..." I prompted her for an answer.
"Flying types." She responded simply.
"So why not just you? You're a Bird Keeper, aren't you?"
"We're all Bird Keepers."
I was taken aback for a moment. A group of four Bird Keepers sounded like a terrible idea, since there would be no coverage against other types, but then I supposed that four Bird Keepers would be able to work together to keep nearly aerial enemies in line while other teams dealt with the issue, meaning Ophelia's team was primarily one that would be working alongside other teams. I smirked inwardly at the idea that while Ophelia was waiting for a mission that required her team, my team was being sent out on missions chosen for us and us alone. My smirk eventually became to strong to keep inward, and I let it slip outward and I turned to walk away. "I'll gather my team then."
