Chapter 18 - Threshold


Als Klaus der Erbauer die Gunst der Schutzgöttin unseres Landes gewann, versammelte er schnell Pokémon in großer Zahl und unterschiedlichster Art unter seinem Banner. Inmitten der unruhigen Jahre nach dem glühenden Blitz beschäftigten sie sich immer wieder mit der Frage, wo sie ihr Lager in einem vom Chaos heimgesuchten Land aufschlagen sollten.

Der Erbauer machte sich daran, sein Königreich in einer der Städte zu gründen, die die Menschen hinterlassen hatten. Orte, die wahre Wälder aus Beton und Glas waren, mit Höhen, die die Göttin, die ihm ihre Gunst gewährte, als angenehm empfanden, mit Lichtern, die von gezähmten Donner angetrieben wurden und deren Anzahl die Sterne am Himmel zu übertreffen schien. Er argumentierte, dass es für eine Zivilisation, die auf menschlichem Wissen aufbaue, nur angemessen sei, dass ihr Königreich dabei helfe, eines ihrer großartigen Werke zu bewahren.

Und so machte sich der Erbauer mit der Göttin daran, das Land zu erkunden, um eine solche Stadt zu finden, nur dass jede Stadt, die er traf, weitgehend gleich war: dunkle Hüllen mit zerstörten Gebäuden und Straßen, die weder Nahrung noch Wasser ernähren konnten. Von Wilde und Ganoven durchstreifte Höhlen der Gewalt und Ungerechtigkeit, die eher Dschungeln als der Wiege einer Zivilisation glichen.

Der Erbauer begann zu verzweifeln, jemals eine Stadt zu finden, von der aus er sein Königreich gründen könnte, als er an einem Tag, an dem in Dustermond heftige Winde wehten, zusammen mit der Göttin Realität die Spitze dessen erreichte, was heute „Der Dämmerungsturm" genannt wird. Dort blickten sie auf die umliegende Stadt und stellten fest, dass sie sich in etwa im gleichen Zustand befand wie die anderen.

Doch als die Sonne unterging, sahen sie, wie die Lichter der Stadt angingen. Weniger und ihre Zahl stark zurückgegangen, aber sie leuchten immer noch inmitten der Ruinen, ähnlich wie der strahlende Glanz, von dem einige sagen, dass er sie mit Energie versorgte, wo ihre Gegenstücke nicht waren. Überglücklich sprang der Gründer auf, und als er den Thron erblickte, den er „Engelstadt" nannte, sprach er die Worte, die sein Königreich gründeten:

Hier erschaffen wir unsere Zukunft."

- Auszug aus »Die Wahrheiter Chroniken – Eine kurze Geschichte der frühen Jahre unseres Königreichs«


Lyle definitely wasn't expecting Irune to react like this to a simple question. Almost as soon as he'd asked about the design on the Kyurem statue, the Axew stiffened up and froze, almost like Kate had suddenly spewed an Icy Wind on her. Kate and Dalton also seemed a bit weirded out by how spooked she seemed. The Axew audibly fumbled with her words for a moment, before hesitantly raising her voice to speak up.

"I mean, I guess it is?" Irune said. "B-But it's just a shrine motif! Nothing to worry about!"

She was hiding something. Transparently enough that Dalton couldn't help but tilt his head up and rest his good hand under his chin with narrowed eyes which made the Axew wince.

"... You're not a very good liar, you know. Though I assume this means you pray to Kyurem then?" Kate asked. "Not that I put a ton of stock into gods and stuff, but I'd have expected you to prefer lifting your prayers up to someone who wouldn't make you keel over just by being in the same room."

The explanation would make sense, except Irune was insistent that she needed her pendant to find a treasure. Lyle supposed there were stories of treasures kept at the Divine Roost being marked on behalf of the gods they were offered to. So… did that mean she was looking for a treasure that had been Kyurem's in life?

Irune sucked in a sharp breath and pawed at her shoulder, looking away as she spoke up with careful, guarded words.

"Surely things wouldn't be that cold just standing around Kyurem, but it's… complicated. My pendant's just a visual reference for one of the treasures I'm looking for," she explained. "Considering everything I've been through, if I could count on a god for help, I wouldn't exactly be picky about who I called out to for aid."

Lyle blinked and trained a wary stare on the Axew. He couldn't tell whether or not she'd been truthful with her answer. On the one paw, nothing about it seemed like a lie at face value like her earlier attempt to dismiss the importance of the sigil. But… with how defensive she'd gotten over her diary last night, it was hard not to conclude that the young dragon wasn't telling them everything she knew.

The Quilava opened his mouth to press her further, when the crunch of footsteps from the forest path pricked his ears.

"Oh? You four are still out here?"

Lyle and his teammates turned to the entrance to the Bildstock, where there was Boudewijn. The Feraligatr captain looked about the group and gave a puzzled tilt of his head, before motioning at the four to follow.

"The pitch over the pontoons should be settled now," he explained. "I can't afford to pull into Newangle City too late, so unless there's something important, we should get everything together and push off right now."

Lyle bit his lip and froze. Gah, they didn't settle on whether to go with Bouewijn or slip off! How on earth was he supposed to make a snap decision, let alone for the entire team? Before Lyle could say anything in reply, he was cut off by his stomach growling loudly in protest. His teammates' own stomachs joined in as well, including Irune's, whose stomach sounded hungrier than he'd have ever guessed a 'mon her size could be.

Lyle and the rest of Team Forager traded grudging, flustered looks with one another. Boudewijn raised a brow and opened his mouth to reply, when Lyle heard Irune suck in a sharp breath and felt her brushed past him. She seemed visibly on edge and uneasily fidgeted with her hands. Was there something that was making it hard for her to get her words out?

"Could- Could we get fifteen minutes to check the nearby bushes or berries?" she asked, looking up at the Feraligatr with a pleading gaze. "We haven't exactly been eating well lately, and we could use something to tide us over."

She wasn't wrong, even if Lyle doubted that was the first thing she'd thought of saying. Boudewijn frowned briefly and looked them over afterwards. Lyle quietly held his breath, and raised a paw to cut in and play along, only for the Water-type to lower his head and sigh.

"Alright, but if you're not on my raft by then, I'm pushing off," the Feraligatr warned. "I get that your fare was generous, but in a time like this, Marianne and I can't go making our clients think that we're unreliable."

The Feraligatr turned and started to head off, only to pause and glance back over his shoulder.

"If there's anything you need to get taken care of here, do it in these fifteen minutes," he said. "Since I'm not planning on making any more stops before we get to Newangle City."

The Feraligatr plodded off and shuffled along past a bend in the path. Lyle listened in as Boudewijn's footsteps faded and waited until he was convinced the raft captain was safely out of earshot, before letting out a sigh of relief. He pinched his brow and shook his head to try and calm his nerves, when there was suddenly a tug at his shoulder.

"So… what are we going to do?"

Lyle looked over at Irune, who looked visibly worried and tense. He would've expected her to reflexively suggest that they stick along with Boudewijn so that she could get into Newangle City. But with a look like that on her face… was she having second thoughts?

A quiet hem and haw turned Lyle's attention off towards Dalton. The Heliolisk seemed to be weighing thoughts in his mind himself, before the Electric-type looked down and shook his head.

"We make a decision of where to go next, obviously," he answered. "Either we go along with Boudewijn and take our chances with the capital's gates, or else we slip off here and take our chances trying to skulk through the backwoods and hinterland villages until we find a Mystery Dungeon that can get us out of this Provinz."

Lyle bit his lip and hesitated. Fifteen minutes wasn't a lot of time to make a decision over something where a wrong choice could mean being caught by snarling Gendarmen and gods-knew-what as a fate afterwards. Still, something about why Dalton was even asking this question felt strange…

"I'm sorry, but why is the first idea even an option again?" Kate asked. "Weren't you the one who insisted a couple days ago that going to the capital was a bad idea?"

"Yeah, I'm… not really understanding why this is such a hard decision here," Lyle asked. "Even if the guards in this Provinz were tipped off about us, how's that a worse option than trying to go to Newangle City?"

"Because we'd be going through it almost blind."

Lyle blinked as Dalton took out the handbook they'd swiped off of Team Pathfinder and flipped through the pages to the map of Varhyde with the different Mystery Dungeons marked off on it. The Heliolisk ran his left hand along the map and its water stains, when Lyle saw the bigger issue with it:

For all its illustrations and its triangles and dots marking off Mystery Dungeons… the map was clearly lacking quite a bit of detail on it.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, this is a copy of 'The Explorer's Handbook for Mystery Dungeons'. There's not a lot in the way of detailed maps of the surface world in it, let alone ones that would highlight good places to sneak around in specific provinces," Dalton explained. "At least for Newangle City, I've been there before and know my way around well enough to know a few places of the sort we could use."

The Heliolisk seemed to waver a bit himself during his argument, but Lyle had to admit it was a better one than he was expecting. They'd only gotten as far as they had since the night of that raid thanks to his own familiarity with Moonturn Square back when they were trying to get away from Waterhead Cave's surroundings… while their lowest moment thus far had been in Primordial Woods when they hadn't known what to expect.

One potential danger after another came to Lyle's mind: soldiers, Hunters, angry Wilders… hell, it wasn't even safe to assume that any local Outlaws around these parts would necessarily tolerate them passing through as strangers. The Quilava hung his head and breathed in and out for a moment, when he noticed Irune looking up at Dalton insistently and seemingly fumbling with words in her mouth.

Lyle frowned. He already knew what this was about.

"You're going to bring up that whole thing about 'finding out about your power', aren't you?" the Quilava grumbled.

"Lyle!"

Yeah, he figured. The frustrated scowl on Irune's face all but confirmed it. Strangely enough, even if they were visibly taken aback, Kate and Dalton weren't reflexively up in arms about the idea. Kate hesitated briefly, before shooting a sideways glance at him.

"Wait, I'm sorry," the Sneasel said. "When did this happen again-?"

"Last night. You were drunk and getting into a pissing match with Dalton at the time."

The Dark-type blinked briefly, before giving a murmuring "... right" under her breath. Lyle heard shuffling footsteps against the shine's timbers, as Dalton paced over and looked down at the Axew with a guarded, serious expression, much like he was sizing up a stranger or a potential mark.

"... What specifically do you want to find out in the capital, Irune?"

"... About whatever that power inside of me is," she replied. "And why the army would want it for themselves so badly."

There was a long, lingering pause, and even Kate had a dumbstruck look at the Axew's answer. Lyle squeezed his eyes shut and brought a paw to his brow. Clearly Irune hadn't improved her pitch much from the night before in The Green Dragonite's tavern.

"Look, Dalton," Lyle began. "I know it's a bad idea, but-"

"... I might be able to help with that, actually. Assuming we can make it past the gates."

Lyle stiffened up, and he couldn't help but feel his mouth briefly flop open in surprise. Dalton, of all 'mons, wasn't summarily shooting the idea down? And he wanted to help? Lyle cast a sidelong glance at Kate, who stared at the Heliolisk much as if he'd sprouted a third arm, before folding hers together with a wary cock of her brow.

"Wait, how are you supposed to manage that, Scales?"

"I lived in Newangle City for a couple years while studying at university," the Heliolisk replied.

Lyle blinked in surprise at the response. He supposed that Dalton did tell them that he'd been to Newangle City before, but it was still unexpected to hear this coming from him. Dalton trailed off and looked away, as he pawed at his right shoulder just above his splint with a low, wistful murmur.

"I… never got to finish my studies there, but even so, it did still open a few doors for me."

Lyle thought to ask for further details but decided against it. They were on the clock, and from the way Dalton was reacting, it was obvious that whatever happened to cut his studies short was a sore topic. The Heliolisk fished through his bag briefly with his good arm, before he came across a small bauble inside and pulled it out. There, in his hand was a small metal badge, made of tarnished, silvery metal.

"Let's just say that I can think of a couple places in the city that might have the information Irune's looking for. And better maps, to boot," he explained. "Most importantly, even if it's been a few years, we'd be able to get into them. I can still act like I belong in a scholarly crowd quite well."

Lyle studied the badge, while Kate and Irune stared at it as if it were one of those treasures they were after, plucked fresh from the Divine Roost. While the badge was dull and corroded in parts, it clearly sported a depiction of Reshiram in flight on it on one end, with some sort of sigil looking like a flame inside a circle with runes at the bottom. He guessed it was meant to be read in Hightongue as 'Universität von Wahrheit₁' based off the rune in the middle.

Lyle lifted his eyes from Dalton's badge with a small frown, when he noticed that Kate and Irune were trading wary glances at the Heliolisk themselves. They must've also found something strange about all of this. Every 'mon had their secrets, but…

"I mean, I knew you were a know-it-all, Scales, but I never pegged you as a nerd," Kate scoffed.

… Lyle wasn't sure if he liked this. While he supposed that they hadn't exactly known each other for long, this was quite a big detail about his past that Dalton was springing on them.

"... Why have you never told us about this before?" Lyle asked.

"Because up until two days ago, we were simply working together on a job. Also, you never asked," the Heliolisk insisted. "I don't have a lot of things with me from back then, and it's one of the few things I've been able to hold onto as a keepsake of a simpler, happier time in my life."

Lyle paused and traded glances with his teammates. … Right, he supposed that there were things that he didn't know even about Kate even after their time on the Foehn Gang. So expecting Dalton to spill his guts about his life story unprompted was probably a bit much.

"... Alright, fair enough," Lyle sighed, flattening his ears. "But what are you getting at with this?"

"What I'm getting at is that even if this isn't necessarily a good idea," Dalton replied. "It's likely still a better one than the alternative."

… Gods, just how bad of a spot were they in if that was the case? Lyle let his head hang; he genuinely wasn't sure what to say back. On the one paw, Dalton had made some fairly solid arguments… on the other hand, fleeing to Newangle City? A city that was better-garrisoned at all times than even some of the fiercest battlefields in Edialeigh? Even if they'd ultimately just be passing through, Lyle couldn't even begin to count off the ways that could possibly end poorly.

"Lyle…"

Lyle flicked his ears and turned his head towards Irune. She was looking up at him, her eyes visibly pleading.

"Understanding my powers better could mean the difference between us making it to the Divine Roost or not. Please… can we do this?"

Lyle bit his tongue. He wanted to blurt out that she'd lost her mind and that they wouldn't be going there even if Reshiram herself had somehow come back from the dead to fly them to the Divine Roost, but he couldn't shake the Axew's pleading look…

Much less the times that they'd seen her use that power. She'd humbled Pokémon that would've otherwise crushed them in battle with it. Considering the sorts of 'mons who were hounding them from that Fähnlein... was it really a good idea not to try and get every advantage they could to stay ahead of them?

Kate had been quiet through this for a while now. Lyle turned his head, and saw that she was tapping her foot impatiently. She closed her eyes before shaking her head.

"Hey, I'm the risk-taker here, so I'm sure I can hack it either way. What do you say, Lyle?"

Lyle grimaced and looked off towards the east, off in the direction where Errberk Village was somewhere over the horizon. If Lacan had had the foresight to expect them to come towards this Provinz, they'd surely be coming by to look for them. If so, they needed to make it to Newangle City to melt into the crowds before Lacan or any other Grünhäuter caught up with them and got wise to where they were trying to go.

But, that meant being surrounded by water again for hours on end… and having to make their way past guarded walls that shamed those of any other settlement in Varhyde. If the worst really did come to pass, surely he'd be better off fighting on a full stomach, wouldn't he?

"... I'm in. Gather whatever you can for supplies and let's try and think of ways to talk Boudewijn into letting us lay low as we make it to the gate," Lyle said. "Just because the Grünhäuter there might not have been tipped off about us doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and take some precautions."


Hot, irritated breaths came between Lacan's teeth as he struggled to hold back angry dragonfire. The Dyad and her most recent companions had been a surprising lot, and he'd tried to keep an open mind for ways she could still catch him off-guard after an agonizingly long year when he'd thought he'd seen just about everything from her.

He knew there was a possibility that the Dyad would make it to Raptor Rock through Primordial Woods and escape far from Toya Square. He'd dispatched Sophia and messengers alongside her to relay word to as many settlements in Austor Provinz as they could in anticipation of that. A decision that had borne fruit from how they had received word of the Dyad's presence mere hours ago.

He just hadn't expected things to take him back into the shadow of Errberk Village's windmills. Sophia's home village, and the place where he'd spent those unsettled years of his youth after having to flee home. One whose sleepy atmosphere belied its martial background as the home of Sophia's Ritterorden₂: the Ritter von Herbergau.

He also wasn't expecting to be standing on a set of damaged docks and staring down a quartet of still-dripping guards who didn't have so much of a scale to show of the Dyad in spite of directly crossing paths with her. A Boltund, a Politoed, a Masquerain, and a grimacing Druddigon with green-and-orange scales at the head of the group.

"State your name and rank, Druddigon," Lacan snarled. "I was told that you'd received my briefing."

"O-Oberwachtmeister Pax Shardragos the Unforgettable!" the Druddigon squeaked. "M-My apologies, I hadn't had a chance to review your briefing, so I didn't realize that those thieves had done something to make them wanted by His Highness! I-If I was aware, I'd have brought more countermeasures to deal with them in battle! L-Like a net!"

This Pokémon was certainly 'unforgettable' alright, if for all the wrong reasons. Something about him felt familiar even if Lacan didn't remember seeing him around Errberk Village while growing up. The Salamence noticed a few nearby Pokémon casting worried glances from damaged boats and elsewhere on the docks, while Sophia was at his side, bringing a wing over her face with a quiet sigh.

… She knew this buffoon somehow? The Druddigon didn't mention a knightly title, but he supposed Sophia was always fairly open to mingling with commoners. But there would be a time to pry further into that story later. Lacan kept his attention trained firmly on the Druddigon Gendarm who had cornered the Dyad and her party, only for them to somehow slip his grasp inside of such a small village.

"How on earth did you manage to lose them?" Lacan demanded. "You said they fled by raft for crying out loud!"

The nearby guards squirmed and shrank back uneasily, leaving the Druddigon of their lot behind and to stare up with an audible gulp. The green dragon hastily gave an apologetic bow, as he stammered and tripped over his own words.

"T-Tut mir leid, Freiherr₃ Wellenhafen!" the Druddigon squeaked. "There were some public disturbances after they fled, and our assumption was that they went had gone inland-!"

Lacan grit his teeth as blood pounded in his head and a low growl came from the back of his throat. The Kingdom's fate, the outcome of Operation Spark and the entire war, was in jeopardy because of this incompetent?

The Druddigon's counterparts hastily darted away while the Druddigon pinned his wings back and stared with that same frozen expression a soldier might have when looking down an incoming Hyper Beam. The Druddigon stumbled back, tripping and pratfalling as Lacan threw a foreleg to pin the guard to the dock and craned his head in with bared fangs.

"It's Graf Wellenhafen. And save your breath trying to ingratiate me, Druddigon," Lacan snarled. "You have no idea how much your actions have endangered His Majesty's realm and you're not making my impression of you any better right now."

The Druddigon flinched and began to visibly tremble, when a flash of blue and black feathers cut in. Lacan turned his head, where there was Sophia stepping in with a sharp, insistent frown.

"Graf Wellenhafen, sagen Sie sowas nicht im Eifer des Gefechts.ᴰ¹"

Lacan paused for a moment at the Corvisquire's entreaty, keeping the still-quailing Gendarm pinned underfoot as she pulled her wing back to her side and continued on in their land's ancient tongue.

"Denken Sie daran, dass dies nur ein bescheidenes Dorf mit einer kleinen Abteilung Gendarmen anstelle seiner normalen Verteidiger ist. Eines, über das wir nicht den gegenwärtigen Stand der Dinge das gleiche Wissen haben. Es wäre das Beste, wenn wir die nicht dazu bringen, zu viele Fragen zu stellen.ᴰ²"

… Right, he supposed it would be for the best to keep the locals out of the loop. Especially with this level of incompetence in the mix.

Lacan sighed and lowered his head towards the Druddigon's shoulder. The Salamence nipped at it and, roughly drug the Gendarm back onto his feet, all but shoving him towards his peers with a disgusted snort.

"Go and help my soldiers find leads as to where that raft is headed to," he snapped. "Consider yourself fortunate that you have an advocate among my ranks."

The Druddigon panted and gasped for breath, pawing at a shoulder plate that now had wear marks left behind from claws digging into it as Sophia stepped forward with a stern caw.

"This… isn't exactly the sort of incident that will go unnoticed on your service record, Sheriff Pax," she sighed. "I can't speak for how your superiors will see fit to respond to it, but for your own sake, do be more careful while carrying out your duties from now on."

The Druddigon grimaced and hung his head briefly. After a chorus of apologies and a squeaked J-Ja, Herr Graf!, he and his counterparts hurriedly darted off the docks and back up to the rest of the village as quickly as their limbs would allow. Lacan watched as the four slipped off, before turning towards the river and settling down against the dock of the wood with a frustrated sigh.

"I would've expected the home of the Ritter von Herbergau to put up a better showing than this," he grumbled. "Even when those damned Edialeighers were breathing down the necks of this town, I certainly didn't remember its defenders being this disorganized when I was younger."

Sophia let out a quiet sigh and shook her head, as she took her side beside him. Lacan supposed that that was a sign that she wasn't particularly impressed herself.

"Things aren't the same as they were back then, Lacan," she insisted. "In the past, our strength as Ritter was needed closer to home for the sake of the realm, but now…"

The Corvisquire trailed off briefly, seemingly at a loss of what else she could say. It didn't need mentioning. Lacan knew as well as his subordinate where the strength of the Ritter von Herbergau was needed these days, as it was with every other Ritterorden in the land:

Edialeigh.

With their training and valor, they fought for king and country alongside their lessers on the frontlines, and when the fates were crueler, they died alongside them there too. From what he had heard, the needs of the war had deprived Errberk Vilage of the ranks of its local Ritterorden, with most of its remaining ranks being too feeble from age to serve in combat, or infirm for one or another reason.

… But it didn't take Ritter to capture some Outlaws. He supposed that noble sensibilities were always slow to transmit to commoners, and that stronger and more skilled fighters were prioritized for the frontlines, but the sheer incompetence he'd just witnessed from the guards was nothing short of shocking. Let alone in a village with a Ritterorden with a long and storied history that ran as far back as the reign of King Agarez the Great.

Gods above. He had been told that the future of the Kingdom was bleak if Operation Spark failed, but this was something else.

"I fail to see how that excuses anything. Even the villages in my father's Grafschaft, as scarred as they are, wouldn't have allowed a band of thieving scum to elude them this easily."

Lacan trailed off after hearing a sharp caw. He looked down at his Corvisquire subordinate, who seemed to be visibly bristling at and batted her wings out in protest.

"Lacan, everyone's had to make sacrifices for this war. Even if not every place has had to carry the same burden as Port Velhen, it's not unexpected for the locals to be worn down and make mistakes."

Lacan froze as the words left Sophia's mouth. After all the grief and hardship his hometown had had to bear, why on earth would she bring that up? The Salamence got up from the docks with a thump and whirled around, craning his head down with a sharp frown. Sophia froze and blinked for a moment, before apologetically lowering her head and stammering.

"A-Ah! Lacan, I-" she began. "M-My apologies, I didn't mean to imply that-"

"Enough."

Lacan continued to stare his subordinate down for a brief moment before turning off towards the river with a quiet sigh. It must have been the stress getting to the two of them. Fate and this war had taken its toll on both of them, from wounds left behind on their bodies, and to the people and places they loved.

… Wasn't that why they were undertaking a mission to do the unthinkable? Why for the past year, he'd been a seeker of power running his wings ragged across the kingdom? For the sake of bringing all those hardships to an end?

"I should have been less glib myself. It wasn't right of me to be so harsh to this place when it took me in while my father's Grafschaft was being sacked, especially when Pokémon like your parents sacrificed so much on its behalf. Were your Ritterorden not there to give me shelter, I likely wouldn't be serving His Majesty today."

… Even if it still stung that in the end, he couldn't be a part of that Ritterorden with her. But he'd made his peace with that years ago, and since charted his own path. Lacan heard feathers ruffling as Sophia sidled up beside him, watching as the Corvisquire turned her head and warily eye at him.

He bit the corner of his mouth and shuffled his wings uncomfortably. She seemed uneasy. Had his words hurt her more than he thought?

"Sophia, I-"

"Lacan, it's okay."

The Salamence paused and looked down, where Sophia was there to meet his gaze. She ruffled her feathers, as a pang of worry seemed to linger in her red eyes.

"Just… be careful about the past," she insisted. "It's important not to forget it, but at the same time, a Pokémon sometimes needs to let things go-"

"Alright, now you're in for it!"

Sophia jumped up and turned around as a yipping cry filled the air. Lacan crouched and reflexively moved his neck and wings to shield her, just in time to see a Dewott hurriedly darting forward with his scalchops drawn. In the background, an Eevee and Houndour tilted their heads puzzledly, as a Grovyle among their number shook her head and pinched her brow.

"Uh… Cruz?" Vilma sighed. "I'm pretty sure those guys are long gone now."

"Or arrested. That's probably just as likely from all these guards here," Nellie remarked. "Did you two manage to get those Outlaws from earlier?"

Silver scarves with green three-pronged spikes and chevrons underneath. It was just a Rescue Team passing through. Lacan glanced down at Sophia under his wing looking over puzzledly, before quietly drawing it back and suppressing a sheepish grimace. He knew that Sophia had come along in strength over the years, but he supposed that some memories were hard to shake.

Lacan turned his attention down to the four strangers and let his mouth hang incredulously for a brief moment. From Sophia's askew tilt of her head, he was guessing that these weren't acquaintances of hers. Which then beggared the question…

"I'm sorry, who are you whelps again?"

Lacan regretted asking the question sooner than he thought. Without prompting, this 'Cruz' Dewott sheathed his scalchops and put his paws on his hips, proudly puffing his chest out that same imbecilic bravado he'd seen from would-be warriors enough times in the past to last a lifetime.

"We're Team Pathfinder, the finest Exploration Team this side of-"

Lacan already knew he didn't need to hear the rest, and cut the Water-type off with an impatient huff.

"Spare me the theatrics, Dewott," he snapped. "Do you four know something about those Outlaws that came through here?"

Cruz blinked and twitched his whiskers for a moment, before slouching forward with a disappointed murmur. Hrmph, the Dewott really must've had an overinflated opinion of himself. The Dewott's Eevee teammate stepped forward along with the rest of her teammates, as they gathered around him and Sophia and looked aside with a sullen frown.

"They're a bunch of lowlives we keep running into and keep causing trouble for us," Nellie said. "Didn't think that they'd slip past you too, since we almost got them!"

"Yeah, we had 'em on the ropes for a while," Vilma chimed in. "But then they hit us with a cheap shot and… well, you know the rest."

Lacan bit his tongue. He could already tell that it would be an ordeal and a half to take this 'Exploration Team's claims at face value. They certainly were full of enthusiasm, at least. But even without them moving about constantly, Lacan somehow doubted that they'd ever be served a draft notice for the army…

Well, perhaps that was a bit presumptuous. Especially if the worst in the war's present direction came to pass.

"Uh… huh," Sophia sighed. "Though you mentioned that you four ran into these Outlaws in the past?"

"That's right," the Grovyle insisted. "They stole one of our bags just outside Moonturn Square and we caught up with them in town. We would've beat them there, but they blew up a shop and got away from us."

Lacan stiffened up and cast an askew glance at Sophia, who was doing much the same back at him. He vaguely remembered word coming from Fähnrich Rank about something along those lines happening. Then, even if their egos were a bit outsized for their level of accomplishment, these four had encountered none other than the Dyad. Why, perhaps she'd let details about the route she planned to take to the Divine Roost slip to them!

"Did they happen to say anything about what their intentions were?" Sophia added.

The Salamence fought back a quiet frown. He didn't understand why Sophia didn't just appeal to authority instead of dallying about with such pleasantries. Whatever worked, he supposed, even if the four whelps were starting to wear his patience thin.

"Well, they were in a hurry to catch a boat, so I'd assume they were hoping to go with the flow to freedom," Bel explained, before raising a paw and pointing off at the horizon. "Maybe to that big city off in the distance? We'd certainly go there if we wanted to get lost."

Lacan and Sophia followed the Houndour's paw off along the river. Lacan reflexively stiffened up at the sight and grit his teeth, as Sophia jumped up with a startled squawk.

It was the white spires of Newangle City, looming in faded tones over the horizon.

Even if Austor Provinz directly bordered it, he hadn't considered the possibility that the four would flee to Newangle City of all places. Would they really be desperate enough to go there? Or was it just a feint to waste their time?

Lacan hung his head with a blank stare. 'So nah und doch so fern' indeed. The Dyad was almost in his grasp at last, but even if a river was a narrow route, there were no shortage of paths she and her companions could've taken from it.

"Ach! W-Was für eine Katastrophe! Neuengelstadt ist eine riesige Stadt mit einer bekannten Diebesgilde! Wir werden es nie schaffen, es mit Pokémon im Wert von nur einem Fähnlein zu durchsuchen!ᴰ³"

Lacan snapped to attention and looked over at Sophia as she stared up at him in wide-eyed alarm. Had she really remained silent the entire time he had been lost in his thoughts? Though after stealing a glance at this 'Team Pathfinder' and their puzzled expressions, it was hard to fault her judgment. She was choosing her words carefully. There was a time and place for Varhyde's ancient tongue, and being able to tend to delicate matters in the presence of commoners such as these was as good as any.

"Ganz ruhig, Sophia. Das wissen wir nicht genau. Ich weigere mich zu glauben, dass die Dyade ausgerechnet jetzt einfach nach Neuengelstadt gehen würde, um Schutz zu suchen, wo sie in der Vergangenheit mehrere Gelegenheiten dazu hatte und sie die nicht genutzt hat.ᴰ⁴"

Lacan let the last few words come out in a low, mulling growl. Yes, that was what made it hard for him to just accept the idea of the Dyad going to Newangle City. If mere shelter wasn't enough to draw her there, then she wouldn't change her mind unless there was a greater motive behind her reasoning.

Lacan's thoughts turned towards the night he and Sophia first came to collect her. She had wielded that fire then. A little over six moons later, she began to wield that thunder. One of her present teammates apparently spoke with a learned Pokémon's accent.

… Had she begun to wield those other powers that slumbered in her? If so, Lacan supposed he had an idea of what might bring her to the kingdom's capital…

"Es würde nicht lange dauern, die Protokolle am Osttor der Stadt zu überprüfen und Bescheid zu geben, wenn dort nichts von ihr auftaucht. Ich... kann mir einen Grund vorstellen, warum die Dyade es wagen würde, sich in die Stadt zu begeben, selbst wenn sie dort nicht lange bleiben würde.ᴰ⁵"

"Wait… 'Dyad'? Which one of those Outlaws are you talking about?"

Lacan stiffened up and craned his head around to see Bel staring up at him with a puzzled frown. The Houndour traded glances between Sophia and himself, who stood there in startled surprise as he continued on.

"Those Outlaws are the same 'mons you're worried went on to Newangle City, right?" Bel asked. "We couldn't help but notice you speaking in that same language from under that rock we used to live under… even if we would say it was more of a forest. Just how long have you been chasing them?"

Gottverdammt, he should've known this was a possibility. He ignored the puzzled glances the Houndour's companions were trading and answered the Fire-type by leaning in and letting out a low growl. The curiosity abruptly left the Houndour's face as he shrank back and cringed as his teammates looked on with wide eyes. Lacan hesitated briefly, before hardening his gaze into an overpowering glare.

"Don't worry about it, Hunduster₄," he huffed. "It's not a matter that the likes of an Exploration Team like yours would be able to do much about."

Bel hurriedly scurried back to his teammates, as the rest of Team Pathfinder tensed up and gulped. They had overheard far more than Lacan was comfortable with. Was it safe to just let them go? But if it wasn't, would their absences raise undue questions? Lacan felt feathers brush against his wing, and saw Sophia bat out a wing to motion for a pause, before stepping towards the Exploration Team with a stern frown.

"My apologies, but it would help our investigation if you gave us some space. There's a guild here in town, why don't you go and check their mission board?"

The Dewott and his fellows hesitated and traded wary looks with one another before hurriedly slinking off, all but running from Lacan and Sophia's presence. They slowed down as they reached the end of the docks, their voices carrying along just audible enough for Lacan to hear their voices over the ebb and flow of the river in the background.

"What was with that Salamence?" Nellie grumbled. "Guy gives me the creeps."

"I know, right?" Cruz asked. "Everything about the way he was acting just screamed dodgy."

"Whatever, getting into trouble with local military isn't my idea of a good time, so let's just put this behind us," Vilma insisted. "I remember there being a mission posted about some professor looking for help with some sort of research, let's see if it's still up…"

Lacan frowned after the four as they passed out of earshot and from his line of sight. Even if it had been unexpected, it was careless of him to assume every commoner he came across would be as unfamiliar with Hightongue as his underlings. After all, he was pursuing a Pokémon whose appearance belied her true nature. Even if it was a less fantastical surprise, it was hardly safe to assume that there wouldn't be others lurking about in a land as large and varied as Varhyde.

The Salamence eyed his surroundings carefully, before turning his attention back towards the white spires in the distance and speaking up to his Corvisquire companion.

"Finden Sie so viel wie möglich heraus, wohin das Floß gefahren ist, und schicken Sie dann eine Nachricht an Fähnrich Rank und die anderen und lassen Sie sie entlang des Flusses suchen. Sagen Sie ihnen, sie sollen sich nach Neuengelstadt begeben, wenn sie nichts finden.ᴰ⁶"

Sophia stared up worriedly at him briefly, before Lacan looked away and continued on.

"Ich bin nicht sicher, ob sie in die Hauptstadt gegangen ist. Aber wenn sie es täte, hätte ich vielleicht eine Vorstellung davon, was die Dyade von einem Besuch dort erwarten würde.ᴰ⁷"

The Corvisquire gave a reflexive bat of her wings and craned her armored head up with a puzzled blink.

"Wait, you do, Lacan?" she asked. "What would she be looking for?"

The Salamence craned his head over his shoulders, not bothering to turn his body back as he gave a quiet shake of his head and spoke up.

"For direction, and a glimpse into her true nature," he answered. "It shouldn't take too long to confirm one way or another if she's in the city. If she is, we'd do well to try and figure out she'd go to find those answers, and then ambush her there."


Much as they had promised, Irune and the rest of Team Forager returned to Boudewijn's raft fifteen minutes later after a chance to tend to themselves and squirrel away some Oran Berries from a nearby field. The rest of the journey downstream had gone by without incident, as fields, woods, and the occasional hamlet here and there blended into one another. Every so often, Irune would look off towards shore to keep herself from nodding off out of boredom.

Or at least she told herself it was boredom. The whole time, she felt a gnawing sense of unease as Newangle City's spires grew closer and closer, and its gray ramparts loomed taller in the background as they drew nearer. It quickly became apparent that she was looking at a set of circular walls dead ahead—punctuated in regular intervals by what looked like hook-shaped towers that pointed outward and loomed well above them. A sign that the city gates couldn't be much further ahead now.

It would soon be time to try and hide away while Boudewijn took the raft through them. The plan was simple: to feign stomachaches to get an excuse to lie down in the shade for "rest", and pass Boudewijn money to slip to the guards to wave them along through an inspection so they could get to a clinic quicker. Even if Irune wasn't fully sure if it'd work, it sounded simple enough.

Except it meant using Boudewijn like so many others before. She had kept her mouth shut earlier since letting the Feraligatr into the know could only hurt him, but… what good did that do with Hermes earlier?

She turned her head down the raft towards Lyle, who was staring off at shore and occasionally cradling at his stomach. Considering how anxious he'd always been whenever they were around large bodies of water, she wasn't sure if it was just an act.

The Axew looked away and nervously pawed at her tusks. Had she done the right thing by getting them involved in everything? She had conceded to herself long ago that she couldn't make it to the Divine Roost on her own, and the others were already taking life into their own hands with their trade. One that they'd inevitably flame out with anyways if they kept at it long enough.

And yet, there was a part of her that always felt repulsed at herself for thinking that way.

"Surroundings got you down, Axew?"

Irune jumped up with a startled squeak and whirled around on her feet to see Boudewijn looming over her. The Axew stumbled back and breathed in and out to calm herself as her eyes drifted out towards shore.

"Surroundings-?"

The words died in her mouth when she saw them: patchworks of ramshackle encampments that sprouted on the plains just past the looming gray walls which started to blend into one another the closer they got… refugee encampments. Just like the one outside of Moonturn Square, except they were much bigger and there were so many of them.

"They just keep going on and on…" she said.

"... Probably would've kept my mouth shut if I knew you hadn't seen them," the Feraligatr said, pawing at his shoulder. "I heard that back in my grandparents' day, the refugee encampments still fit inside the city walls."

Irune wasn't sure what to make of that. Had those encampments been driven out? Or had the city just run out of space inside of the walls? One would think that after seven years since the last invasions were repulsed, that Pokémon without places to go back to would've settled into their environments…

"Where did they all come from?" Irune asked. "I never heard of the Edialeighers reaching the capital in the last invasion."

"There'd probably be fewer of these camps if they had. Though with the way that clearances have been going on in recent years, I would imagine this is the second or third camp for some of these Pokémon," Boudewijn sighed. "A lot of places got chewed up in the last invasion to the point that they're still putting the pieces together. Like Benzen Town. That's definitely not a place I'd want to set foot in anytime soon."

That was a name that Irune recognized. Cade had told her about it before everything had happened. It was a town where some sort of uprising had started just before the last set of invasions, which had been fiercely fought over between armies and heavily mined with Blast Seeds and Apricorns. Things were apparently bad enough there that there were allegedly stories of fully-evolved Rothäuter taken as prisoners who would break into sobbing pleas for mercy over the mere threat of being sent to clear mines there.

For the longest time, Irune hadn't thought much of how her best friend had heard of stories like those about Edialeighers. Even if it all seemed so clear in retrospect...

"Blurgh…"

Irune turned her head where she saw Kate staggering forward with her paws clutching her stomach. For a moment, Irune opened her mouth to ask, only to spot Dalton laying on the deck with a hand draped over his head.

"What's wrong?"

"My stomach's killing me," Kate groaned. "I think that breakfast this morning messed me up."

Irune bit her tongue and quietly grimaced. Right. They were supposed to make Boudewijn think they fell ill. But she didn't realize that was supposed to be right now. She tried to steal glances at Boudewijn's expression, which remained unreadable. … Was she supposed to play along even after Boudewijn saw her acting healthy? For that matter, was he even believing Kate and Dalton's story right now? Since Dalton especially did seem to be laying it on a bit thick-

Irune never finished her train of thought when a sharp thump rang out and the raft abruptly lurched. The young dragon pitched forward onto the deck, as yelps rang out, along with Dalton's voice loudly crying out in pain. Irune lifted her eyes up from the deck when she saw Dalton cradling his splinted arm with a low whine, before hardening his eyes into a glare at a shape in the water.

"Götterblut! Was ist dein Problem, du blöder Fisch?!ᴰ⁸"

Irune blinked at Dalton's outburst before seeing blue-scaled flippers latch onto the deck… only to freeze and see the color drain from her teammates faces as a Carracosta's head clad in a green helmet rose from the water.

Irune's head began to spin and the world around her started to feel faint and distant. Oh gods, they'd been found out! Why on earth had she been so stupid to think that this desperate scheme would actually work-?

"Is this your raft, Heliolisk?"

The Carracosta locked eyes with Dalton, who froze up and stammered. Irune subconsciously started backing away from the Water-type guard, only to pause when a realization dawned on her:

The guard didn't recognize them.

"It's mine actually," Boudewijn said, waving a claw for attention. "Though what's going on? I didn't think that inspections were being carried out in the middle of the river these days."

"Gods, I wish," the guard scoffed back. "It'd make my life a lot easier. Yours will be carried out at Berth #5. Second tunnel from the right."

Lyle and Kate seemed to put two and two that they weren't in as much trouble as they thought. Or not yet, at least. The pair hurried over and hastily took Dalton's side, keeping a watchful gaze on the Carracosta while trading glances with one another before Kate stooped down with an impatient frown at the Gendarm in the water.

"Look, can we just make it worth your while to skip the line?" she asked. "We kinda came down with food poisoning and-"

The Sneasel hurriedly cupped a claw over her mouth and made a gagging noise just by the Carracosta. The Water-type recoiled briefly as Kate pulled back, before returning her paws to her stomach with a woozy groan.

"Ungh… I don't want us making a mess of the water you work in."

Irune traded glances between the Sneasel and the Carracosta in the water. The Gendarm shifted back to a relaxed position leaning against the raft, before narrowing her eyes sharply at the Sneasel Outlaw.

"'We'? Your friends got over here just fine," the guard harrumphed. "And you looked rather healthy on your way over just a moment ago."

Kate's eyes widened and she stiffened up with a grimace. Irune opened her mouth to interject, only to find herself at a loss for words as the Sneasel nervously pawed at her shoulder and forced an awkward smile over her face.

"The… symptoms come and go? The point is, that we could totally get sick at any moment!"

Irune was going to take that meant that they weren't going to get away with hiding among Boudewijn's cargo until they made it past the city gate. From the blank stares that Lyle and Dalton were both giving the Sneasel and how the two looked like they were trying not to scream, they clearly didn't think Kate's attempted excuse was convincing either.

The Carracosta slapped a flipper against the raft's timbers, before pushing off into the water.

"I'll take my chances. Just stay on deck where we can see you," she harrumphed. "You'll be inspected at Berth #5. If you're planning on hurrying this along, Feraligatr, I'd suggest you help me out with towing."

Boudewijn nodded back, and slipped into the river water with a splash, Irune briefly shivering after a few drops got onto her, while Lyle flinched and reflexively flared up after a dash of water hit his face. Irune turned her head and saw the Quilava furiously try and paw the water out of his fur, only to hear the river churning and spot the Carracosta passing while swimming towards a tow cable, before turning her head towards Kate with a sharp scowl.

"Oh, and watch where you blow chunks if you're planning on having a good visit, Sneasel."

Kate pinned her ears and frowned in reply and opened her mouth briefly, only to bite her tongue. Thank gods, for a second, Irune was worried that the Sneasel was going to get them arrested before they even made it to the gate. Irune breathed in and out tensely as the two Water-types took the cable and the raft began lurching forward, stealing glances at the approaching wall when she felt a tug at her shoulder. It was Lyle passing by and motioning off towards the back.

The Axew followed along, with her teammates joining up as they gathered towards the rear of the raft as Boudewijn and the Carracosta grew hard to hear. A sharp, annoyed hiss turned her attention back to her peers, just in time to see Kate folding her arms and looking at her and her teammates with an irritated frown.

"I can't believe you three!" she snapped. "We had a plan here!"

"It was always a shaky one at best," Dalton sighed, pinching his brow. "Look, the fact that we didn't immediately get attacked is a sign that the guards on duty don't recognize us."

… Small victories, Irune supposed. Even if it'd mean precious little if the guards at this 'berth' were better informed than the Carracosta was. Even so, the die had already been cast. Short of trying to swim their way to shore and beat the guards in the water and air there, there wasn't any way to avoid that inspection at the gates.

"... What do we do now?"

"We keep our mouths shut and act natural until we get past the gates. If one guard at the gate didn't recognize us, there's decent odds the rest won't either," Lyle said. "And Boudewijn thinks we're his passengers, so at least he'll keep things more convincing than when Kate was trying to save our ruse earlier."

The Sneasel turned aside with a pouting harrumph at the remark as the raft began to fall into shade from overhead. Irune looked up, as gray, ancient concrete from the wall loomed up high into the sky, with a series of tunnels along the bottom running the length of the river which looked big enough to let Boudewijn's raft through four or five times over. The gate over the river was much closer than she remembered, and she didn't realize that Newangle City's walls were this tall. Why, they made that aqueduct outside of Moonturn Square look short!

The Axew sucked in a sharp breath, before giving a worried look over at her teammates.

"What do we do if this doesn't work out?"

A long silence followed, as a flash of unease came over the rest of Team Forager's members, before Lyle bit his lip and spoke up with a wavering murmur.

"Run and pray for the best, I guess."

Irune gulped and felt her stomach knot up at Lyle's response. Gods, she was starting to get worried she really would get sick in the water now. The sound of splashing from the river and water dripping against wood alerted them to Boudewijn, who walked past them and took his place at his tiller.

This was it. There was no turning back.

Irune felt the raft jolt and looked up, briefly spotting a ceiling with pitted concrete and occasional rust-covered metal beams. Irune briefly realized that things weren't as dark as she expected, when she noticed a set of lights glowing with the cool blues of Luminous Moss lanterns—hung from the ceiling to illuminate a set of raised metal grates over the water and a concrete ledge just above the waterline to the raft's left.

They must've been at the berth, with the Carracosta swimming to the front of the raft and a small party of Grünhäuter lounging beside a mottled concrete wall with an open doorway that led to stairs heading up. The guards briefly turned their heads as the raft came to a stop, with a Venusaur from their number rising up to approach the raft. Their leader, Irune assumed.

The Venusaur plodded along in his green army plates, vines extending from the plant on his back as he glanced over the raft and its contents when the Grass-type's attention fell on her. The Gendarm's attention drifted to the others of Team Forager, when his eyes narrowed enough to make Irune stiffen up and unconsciously suck in a sharp breath. A quick glance from the corner of her eyes revealed her teammates were similarly tense.

… Austor Provinz did border the lands around the capital. Had news of their bounties beaten them to the capital after all?

Irune instinctively lowered her head and shrank back, bracing for an incoming blow at any moment. But the Venusaur didn't seem motivated to get any closer, and the other Gendarmen on the berth didn't seem motivated to come over either. The Venusaur scanned his eyes back at her and the rest of Team Forager, and finally to the Feraligatr pilot as the Grass-type raised a vine-like tendril to motion off at them with an accusing frown.

"Who are those four, Feraligatr?" the Venusaur demanded. "You come by this gate enough to stand out, but I haven't seen you take passengers along in moons."

"Well, I can't say I really remember, Herr Bisaflor₅," Boudewijn chortled. "But they paid me quite well for the trouble and I needed the extra coin."

The Venusaur quirked a brow as the Carracosta's gaze from the water hardened into an unimpressed glare. Irune felt her blood run cold as she tried to look around for any route of escape. Water, with the Carracosta lying in wait, water with another berth on the opposite side of the tunnel that was almost certainly also riddled with guards…

"Kari, did he mention anything about this to you on the way over?"

And the stony ledge with the Venusaur and the other guards, who were starting to stir and get up themselves. The doorway was left unattended, but considering that these were city walls it almost certainly led to even more Gendarmen like them in whatever passages it lead to.

Gods, what on earth had she ever done to deserve options to like these to choose from?

Irune heard the water churn as the Carracosta clambered onto the raft, before motioning at Boudewijn, and then off at the ledge.

"Why don't you tie down the raft for a moment and answer a few questions?" that Carracosta asked. "We need to get in a few random inspections today anyways."

... Perhaps there were some things she had done that would be worth some sort of punishment from the cosmos. Especially if the things she'd managed to piece together about why Lacan was trying to capture her were true. But it couldn't end here. Not like this.

Irune was tempted to just jump off the raft and take her chances with the Carracosta to try and get away. From how the others were eying their surroundings, they must've been considering doing the same themselves.

Except, Boudewijn didn't appear to be particularly fazed. The Feraligatr narrowed his eyes briefly, before motioning with his claws for a stop.

"Look, Officers. Time is money in troubled circumstances like these, especially for Frau Karippas₆ in the river there. Soaking in the water with your armor on all the time can't be good for those plates," Boudewijn insisted. "So how about we come to a mutual understanding and I make things worth your while?"

The Feraligatr reached for a satchel about his shoulder as the guards crouched into battle-ready stances. Gods, was Boudewijn planning on doing something like throwing a Luminous Orb? There was no way that they'd outrun all these guards!

Except, a metallic jingle came as the Feraligatr dug through his bag and fished out a small drawstring bag. After a moment to go through its contents, the Feraligatr pulled out a number of coins of various metallic shades, a couple hundred Carolins from the looks of it, and slid it onto the ground of the berth next to the Venusaur.

"This should be enough to help you, Frau Karripas there, and your buddies get by for a day or two, no?" Boudewijn insisted. "I've got friends in the service myself, and I know how frustrating it is to see your pay lose value just sitting in your purse."

The Carracosta hesitated briefly, before looking over at Venusaur for approval as the other guards on the berth murmured behind him. Irune couldn't tell whether Boudewijn's appeal had struck a chord, or if the Carracosta just had the misfortune of being paired with a much less grubby counterpart. The Venusaur said nothing for a while, before snatching the coins off the ground, and let out a low growl in warning.

"Hrmph, just don't make us regret this, Feraligatr. Otherwise next time, we'll be asking for a percentage," the Venusaur harrumphed. "Take your raft and push off already."

Boudewijn hastily obliged and after wedging his legs against the berth's ledge, shoved his raft off. The end of the tunnel didn't look too far away, if further than Irune expected. Just how thick were these city walls? The raft drifted along as the lights from the checkpoint began to dim in favor of the light at the end of the tunnel. One by one, Irune's teammates drifted off and flopped down with tired sighs, but the whole time, she couldn't help but keep her eyes trained on Boudewijn as he minded his raft's tiller.

"You were awfully quick to break out the coin back there," Irune murmured. "I… just didn't expect you to be the type to do that."

Boudewijn broke his attention from the river for a moment, and looked down into her eyes. He seemed to have a flash of unease and said nothing for a moment, before shaking his head with a resigned sigh.

"You have to be in times like these, kid," the Feraligatr said. "You need to be able to use whatever you can to keep doors propped open for getting by, especially with the way that just about everything seems to be getting ground down by the war effort these days. I needed to get in quicker, and those guards needed to make up for their pay losing value. Think of it as us helping each other out."

Gods, she must've sounded like such a hypocrite to her present teammates if they were listening in. She'd spent the last year getting by by stealing from others just for a chance to get the treasure she needed and here she was questioning another 'mon over paying a bribe?

… Perhaps Boudewijn was more similar to her than she'd originally thought.

"I… suppose, but aren't you bothered at all by having to do that?" she asked. "I understand if you don't have a choice, but aren't you still taking part in something that you know is wrong-?"

Irune briefly felt a paw slip over her mouth and tug her back. She glimpsed out the corner of her eyes, where there was Kate quietly shooting a glare that all but asked her if she was out of her damn mind. Kate's dirty look vanished as quickly as it came, as the Sneasel turned her snout up towards their Feraligatr captain and forced a weak smile over her face.

"Sorry if she's bothering you, we'll move on for a bit of sightseeing here-"

"No, it's fine."

Boudewijn pawed at his shoulder and looked aside. He kept calm, but the question obviously needled his hide a bit. More than Irune would've expected from a stronger and fully evolved Pokémon like a Feraligatr. The captain hesitated a moment, before lowering his head with a low grumble.

"I don't like it myself since I promised myself I'd stay on the straight and narrow years ago, but it's just the reality we have to live with. I know that you're still getting used to the world and the way things work since you're young, but things have been this way since before I was hatched," Boudewijn sighed back. "My grandfather said that in the days when the gods were still among us, before the war started, that it used to be common for Pokémon to be willing to do the right thing even if it meant a little hardship for themselves."

Irune blinked for a moment. Boudewijn promised himself to 'stay to the straight and narrow'? Meaning there was a time when he did worse things than bribe guards to get through checkpoints?

"I get that that probably doesn't sound satisfying to you, Axew," he said. "But when the choices for a consistent meal are putting your life on the line for a fight that's not going anywhere or bending the rules from time to time, can you really fault a 'mon for opting for choosing the latter?"

The Axew looked up at the Feraligatr's face and realized that his eyes looked tired. Part of her was curious as to what could've happened in Boudewijn's past, and why he would have changed. Though on the other hand… everyone had their secrets, and after how cheerful and relaxed the Feraligatr had been the entire journey up until now, part of her wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"We're just passing the gates right now," Boudewijn said. "If this is your first time in the city, you and your friends should pay attention once we get out of the tunnel. It's quite an experience seeing everything pop up in front of you."

Irune looked back to see Lyle and Dalton looking on behind them, along with light coming through the end of the tunnel up ahead. The Axew blinked briefly, as Kate hurriedly tugged her along with an overeager "Thanks, we'll take your advice."

Irune decided that maybe it was for the best to think about other things for a while. To just forget her worries and troubles for a bit and take Boudewijn's advice. She stepped forward as the raft started to slip out into the sun, the Axew briefly squinting her eyes as she adjusted to the brightness.

She heard her teammates gasp and opened her eyes, when they went wide in surprise at once. As the blues of the sky returned along with streaks of white punctuating them, her mouth flopped open in awe at the sight of buildings ahead of her that stretched along as far as the eye could see. There, among them were tall spires that sprouted here and there that looked tall enough to touch the clouds.

Ones that looked unlike anything that she'd seen before. Like they hadn't been made by Pokémon.


Author's Notes

Words and Phrases

1. Universität von Wahrheit - "University of Varhyde"
2. Ritterorden - Analogous institution in the Germanosphere as an order of knights.
3. Freiherr - Petty nobiliary title in the Germanosphere, roughly equivalent to "Baron".
4 - Hunduster - "Houndour"
5 - Bisaflor - "Venusaur"
6 - Karippas - "Carracosta"

Dialogue

D1. "Graf Wellenhafen, sagen Sie sowas nicht im Eifer des Gefechts." - "Graf Wellenhafen, don't go saying things in the heat of the moment."
D2. "Denken Sie daran, dass dies nur ein bescheidenes Dorf mit einer kleinen Abteilung Gendarmen anstelle seiner normalen Verteidiger ist. Eines, über das wir nicht den gegenwärtigen Stand der Dinge das gleiche Wissen haben. Es wäre das Beste, wenn wir die nicht dazu bringen, zu viele Fragen zu stellen." - "Recall that this is but a humble village with a small detachment of Gendarmen posted in the stead of its normal defenders, one that doesn't have our same knowledge of the present state of affairs. It's for the best that we don't get them asking too many questions."
D3. "Ach! W-Was für eine Katastrophe! Neuengelstadt ist eine riesige Stadt mit einer bekannten Diebesgilde! Wir werden es nie schaffen, es mit Pokémon im Wert von nur einem Fähnlein zu durchsuchen!" - "Ack! Wh-What a disaster! Newangle City's a massive city with a known Thieves' Guild! We'll never be able to comb it with just a Fähnlein's worth of Pokémon!"
D4. "Ganz ruhig, Sophia. Das wissen wir nicht genau. Ich weigere mich zu glauben, dass die Dyade ausgerechnet jetzt einfach nach Neuengelstadt gehen würde, um Schutz zu suchen, wo sie in der Vergangenheit mehrere Gelegenheiten dazu hatte und sie die nicht genutzt hat." - "Easy, Sophia. We don't know that for sure. I refuse to believe the Dyad would just go to Newangle City for shelter now of all times when she had multiple opportunities in the past to do so and didn't take them."
D5. "Es würde nicht lange dauern, die Protokolle am Osttor der Stadt zu überprüfen und Bescheid zu geben, wenn dort nichts von ihr auftaucht. Ich... kann mir einen Grund vorstellen, warum die Dyade es wagen würde, sich in die Stadt zu begeben, selbst wenn sie dort nicht lange bleiben würde." - "It wouldn't take long to check the logs at the city's East Gate and leave notice if nothing of her turned up there. I… can think of a reason why the Dyad would dare to venture into the city, even if she wouldn't stay there for long."
D6. "Finden Sie so viel wie möglich heraus, wohin das Floß gefahren ist, und schicken Sie dann eine Nachricht an Fähnrich Rank und die anderen und lassen Sie sie entlang des Flusses suchen. Sagen Sie ihnen, sie sollen sich nach Neuengelstadt begeben, wenn sie nichts finden." - "Find out what you can about where that raft was going and then send word to Fähnrich Rank and the others and have them search along the river. Tell them to converge on Newangle City if they don't turn up anything."
D7. "Ich bin nicht sicher, ob sie in die Hauptstadt gegangen ist. Aber wenn sie es täte, hätte ich vielleicht eine Vorstellung davon, was die Dyade von einem Besuch dort erwarten würde." - "I'm not certain she went to the capital. But if she did, think I might have an idea of what the Dyad would want from visiting there."
D8. "Was ist dein Problem, du blöder Fisch?!" - "What is your problem, you stupid fish?!"

Teaser Text - Special Thanks to TorchicBellow for Translation

When Klaus the Founder won the favor of our land's patron goddess, he quickly rallied Pokémon of many numbers and many kinds under his banner. In the midst of the unsettled years following the Great Flash, one question that continuously vexed them was where to pitch their camp in a land roiled by chaos.

The Founder set out to found his kingdom from one of the cities that humans left behind. Places that were veritable forests of concrete and glass, with high places which the goddess who granted him favor found pleasing, with lights driven by tamed thunder that seemed to outnumber stars in the sky. He reasoned that as a civilization building upon human knowledge, that it was only fitting that their kingdom should help preserve one of their great works.

And so the Founder set about with the goddess to survey the land to find such a city, only for every city he came across to be much the same: darkened husks with shattered buildings and streets, unable to sustain themselves with food or water. Dens of violence and iniquity prowled by Wilders and Outlaws that were more like jungles than the cradle of a civilization.

The Founder began to despair of ever finding a city from which to found his kingdom, when on a day when the winds blew hard in Dustermondᵃ, he and the goddess Reality came to the top of what is now called the 'Dämmerungsturmᵇ'. There, they looked out over the surrounding city and found it to be much the same state as the others.

Except, as the sun set, they saw the lights of the city come on. Fewer and much diminished in number, but still shining amidst the ruins much like the radiance that some say kept them fueled where their counterparts were not. Overjoyed, the Founder sprang to his feet, and as he beheld the throne he came to call 'Angle Cityᶜ', he spoke the words that founded his kingdom:

"This is where we build our future."

- Excerpt from 'The Varhyder Chronicles - A Brief History of our Kingdom's Early Years'

a. "December" (archaic), lit. "Dim / Gloomy Moon".
b. Name roughly equivalent to "Twilight Tower"
c. Derived from phonetic corruption. A more semantically accurate translation would be "Angel City"
d. Semantic translation. A more literal one would be "Here, we create our future."