Crisp autumn wind blows through the fairgrounds and sends a soft whispering rustle through the trees in the fairgrounds. Under the evening light, the laughter of children, the popping, ringing, and banging of fairground games, and the hubbub of the crowd all blend together.

Soft fluffy sweetness melts in my mouth as I sit idly on a bench, chewing on cotton candy and swinging my legs while I wait for Buck to make his third attempt at the dart-throwing game.

"I think you should stop Izzy." I look up at Felicity and see her staring at my hand, her brow furrowed and mouth drawn taut.

My only response is a clenching of my left hand and a silent stare out into the horizon, my thumb running over the worn week-old bandage.

"Izzy, a trained Houndour ran at you and bit you without any warning, and you blew it off like it was some teething Growlithe pup. Do you have any idea how much danger you could have been in if the trainer hadn't returned it right away? If it had been a wild Houndour instead?" Felicity lets out a sigh, "You know there are lots of folks that barely work with Pokemon at all, who never even bother going on a journey."

"I'm gonna be a trainer, you can't change my mind." My declaration is barely a whisper, but utterly resolute. I simply can't let go of this precious spark, this feeling of being sure of what I want from my life for the first time.

Felicity's brow furrows further and her face takes on a scowl as her body begins to shake. "FINE, JUST DROP DEAD IN THOSE ARCEUS DAMNED WOODS FOR ALL I CARE!" She runs off in a huff and I'm left looking at a confused-looking Buck holding four balloons.

"I- I won." Buck puffs up and smiles before it begins to falter. "What happened to Felicity? Where'd she run off to?"

"I think I made her angry, maybe you could go cheer her up? I imagine I'll only make her angrier." I shrug and then point over towards the direction she went off in.

"Oh alrighty then." Buck begins to scuttle off, before coming to a halt on the balls of his feet and pivoting back around to return to me. "This is for you! I got one for each of us!" He hands me one of the balloons with a big grin on his face before darting away again.

And thus I find myself alone in the middle of a crowd. I let out a sigh and hop off the bench to meander about and sort my thoughts, my inclination to pace flaring up again.

'It's odd, six years ago when I first got there I thought I would find myself alone and able to easily drift away from the orphanage with no real attachments once the time came to leave on my journey, but I suppose some people just have a way of growing on you.'

'I almost wish I was really this age so I could just feel confusion over this situation, instead, I get to feel guilty about upsetting an 11-year-old girl who's done me nothing but kindness because I can put the pieces of the puzzle together.'

Within the Greater Sunnyshore area, comprised of the mainland and the small archipelago of islands just off the coast, there are over forty orphan homes similar to the one in which we live. Orphaned children are exceedingly common because simply put, both the trainers and sailors that often frequent the city tend to prefer ignoring the consequences of moments of passion.

Many of the orphans are simply abandoned children, left behind by parents who couldn't be bothered to take care of them and had no relatives to foist them off onto, but Felicity belonged to the second category.

From what I gathered, Felicity's father and mother, that is to say, the Matron's son and daughter-in-law, were a field researcher and trainer respectively who passed away off route in the wilds outside about a year before I was born.

'Perhaps I could have tried to placate her for the time being, but in the end "a lie will remain a lie". She's probably frightened of losing someone else she cares about to the wilds, but honestly, I'd rather die chasing this feeling of being alive than live feeling dead inside each day again.'

As far as the incident with the Houndour went well… it was disappointing, to say the least. Bucky had run up behind me before shaking me excitedly while I was feeding the Bidoof by the park lake and began excitedly babbling incoherently. I barely managed to make out "Houndour" and figured he must have found a trainer with one since he knew it was a Pokemon I had been hoping to meet and maybe partner with in the future ever since I had watched Evan's battle.

Upon chasing Buck back to where he had come from I saw the Houndour relaxing with its head in its trainer's lap being pet. It perked up suddenly and looked at me as we approached and for a moment I found myself feeling happy and hopeful as it seemed to excitedly run towards us to play.

Things rapidly went downhill from there, the end result being a sobbing Bucky, a trainer rapidly trying to convince me to not report her please, and me brooding while holding a bloodied hand with a fun new set of tooth marks.

Initially, I had wanted to convince myself that it was simply puppy play that was a bit too aggressive and that maybe Houndour would be a Pokemon that I could actually train in the future, but I simply couldn't delude myself to quite that degree. The thing had been running at me like I had been holding a treat, except it turned out the treat was fucking me-shaped.

And honestly isn't that just the loveliest concern, because the fact of the matter is that Houndour and most other dark types are restricted in the city. Restriction actually isn't a massive barrier to having your Pokemon accompany you, merely requiring an appointment at a Ranger's Outpost or Pokemon Center to complete a short competency quiz on the species and perform a suitability check on the Pokemon to ensure it does not immediately begin pursuing certain instincts common in its species within the confines of the city. A simple example of this would be walking with a trainer and their Sneasel through a room full of interesting shiny objects to check whether it will attempt to steal something. The whole thing takes maybe an hour and then your trainer's license has the allowance added to its record.

It's a small, simple test really but here's the thing, it's also a reminder, that a trainer is liable for anything their Pokemon might get up to in a settlement. This means that only someone confident that their Pokemon won't cause trouble or an idiot will actually bother with it and then use the allowance. That is to say, unless Ms. Samantha Jenner was an idiot, I was attacked on sight by what should ostensibly be a well-behaved Houndour. In the end, I took "mercy" on her and only requested her to give me what she felt would be an "appropriate" amount of money to tell the hospital that she helped save me from a Pokemon on the outskirts of the city instead.

Maybe a bit of a dick move, since I stared at her silently as she offered numbers until she reached 10,000 PK which roughly is equivalent to 1000 dollars USD, but I was kinda pissed that afternoon frankly. She's at least better off then if I had reported her, as she would have almost certainly been separated from her Houndour, fined, and received a massive black mark on her record if not lost her license altogether which I would have felt very bad about.

I continue steadily walking along, mulling things over in my head and pondering for the future. The soft tug on my hand leading me forward continues allowing me to peacefully space out without having to think too hard about where I'm going.

At the very least the Houndour incident has possibly offered me the final piece of the puzzle I've been trying to solve for 6 years. From what I've read researchers agree that dark types are specifically evolved toward hunting- 'Wait hold on a fucking second, HUH?'

I look around and find myself in no way, shape, or form in the fairgrounds on the western outskirts of the city and quite decidedly in the middle of the woods. I stop and look at the hand that has been being tugged for probably the past fifteen minutes of my thirty-minute walk, a small yellow heart-shaped pad sticks firmly to it like some sort of strange suction cup. Attached to the pad is a thin but sturdy-looking black cord. I follow the lengthy cord with my eyes and find myself staring at a purple balloon with what looks like a yellow tape patch stuck to the front between a pair of shiny black eyes, and a soft fluffy tuft of cloud crowning its head.

I stare silently and blink. It stares back and blinks as well.

I look back down at my hand, then back up at the Drifloon.

"So lil fella," I smack my lips a couple of times "where we goin'?"

"FLOON! Floon floon." A high-pitched squeaky voice escapes from the patch in the center of the creature, the tiniest of dots opening up each time it speaks. It bounces agitatedly before puffing up and placing its other pad on the point at where it appears the balloon is tied as if putting its hand on its hip.

"Erm sorry, where are we going lil miss?" 'How in the world am I supposed to tell a balloon's gender...'

"Drif. Drif loon." She nods seemingly content with the change in address before beginning to excitedly bounce around through the air and wave her free pad around, her movements resembling silly dancing this time.

"Off to a dance?" A shake of the head no is followed by what this time looks like a mimicry of peekaboo followed by excited circling around me. "Going to go play with friends?"

"Floon Floon!" Everything about the odd balloon seems to ooze joy at me solving her game of charades.

"Wait… were you just hiding among those balloons waiting to run off with some child?"

"Floon!?" Drifloon looks shocked by my declaration, then rubs behind her head looking a bit sheepish and embarrassed, before waving its pad in a way that almost seems to say "Aw shucks you figured it out."

"Pfft Hahahahaha!" I can't help but begin to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. 'My mother would be mortified, over thirty years of living and I managed to get myself kidnapped by a fucking balloon.'

Driflloon happily joins in along with my laughing, an odd squeaky wheeze escaping from her. Eventually, after a minute or so I finally manage to recompose myself.

"Alright then, lead the way." Drifloon looks a bit shocked at the declaration, perhaps expecting me to choose to leave, but frankly, I have no idea how to get back, and even If I did, there's no way I would miss this chance.

Our walk continues on in relative quiet for the next five minutes, Drifloon happily bobbing along and leading me by the hand, while I silently contemplate what this could mean for my future.

'Looks like my hunch might be right, Ghost types seem to like me. At the very least this Driflloon doesn't seem to be weirded out by me and is happy to drag me off on some adventure. Maybe she'd be willing to partner? Hmmm, Ghost type is certainly going to be interesting to try to make a team with, but hopefully, I'm able to find some I can get along with well and aren't particularly problematic. For now, I'll just let myself be happy that I can work with one of my two favorite types, I was always leaning towards fire since I felt like ghost would be too untenable to deal with, but this works out great.'

"Flooon! Flo flo floon!" Driflloon gestures out with her free arm as if saying "Welcome, we're here!". Before me lies a small clearing within the forest that a small ankle-deep stream cuts through. In the center of the clearing a dilapidated old shack sits, its porch half collapsed and a gaping hole in the roof.

"So do we head inside?" Drifloon scratches the top of her head, before shaking its head and shrugging. "Maybe later?" She nods happily at my guess.

I feel a sudden tap on my left shoulder 'Hey no wait this is my thing,' and immediately turn my head to the right instead. Massive half-moon eyes with yellow sclera and bright red pupils fill my gaze over a field of teal ethereal mist with a wide grin. I flinch back a bit, not expecting whatever tapped me to be quite so close.

"Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!" the specter grumbles in a decidedly petulant tone, its mouth furling up into a pout, evidently whining at me for ruining its trick. 'Ah, whoops maybe I should've played along.'

"Well hello to you too lil.. fella?"

The Misdreavus snorts and tilts its head up into the air as the ghostly tendrils resembling hair writhe back and forth. "Misss, MIS mis miss." Its tone oozes with self-importance, and a bit of exasperation. It gets up close to me face to face and boops my forehead with one of the tendrils, a strange ethereal touch that sets a bone-deep chill into my skull.

"Apologies, Young Lord?"

"Mis. Mis dre vus." He nods, a smug expression on his countenance. He seems to want to present a sense of "obviously, as it should be", yet there's a certain obvious excitement in his bobbing floating, and tendrils that creates a bit of dissonance.

"Floooooooon" If a balloon is capable of sounding exasperated, I'm pretty sure this is the sound it would make.

Midreavus quickly rounds on Drifloon, and the two begin bickering back in forth, Midreavus sounding upset and irritated about the attitude he's getting, and Drifloon sounding fed up with nonsense.

"Pfft. Hehe so, ahem, what do you guys normally do for fun?" I restrain my giggling before trying to get the two's attention. Both quickly turn, remembering that someone else is here. Drifloon rubs the back of her head sheepishly while Misdreavus gazes down at the ground glancing away, his complexion paling a bit as he mutters under his breath.

"Floon! Drif drif!" Driflloon quickly gets herself back on track and begins miming peekaboo while fading to invisibility, followed by showing its pads bobbing and chasing each other.

"Hide-and-seek and tag? Let's do hide-and-seek then, but uh, for rules… You have to pick one spot and stay in it, and no turning invisible or hiding inside solid objects.

"Flo Floon!" Drifloon happily salutes, while Midreavus subtle nods, seeming to find the terms acceptable.

"You've got thirty seconds, find someplace good." I cover my eyes and begin to count. 'Oh man it's been so long since I did this, and It just occurred to me that neither of these Pokemon makes a sound when they move. I'm not getting any hints at all huh?' "...Thirty, ready or not here I come."

I look around the clearing and see… not a trace of them. "Well, let's get to it then" I stretch a bit before walking off, humming as I go.

'Pothole in the ground? No. Under this bush? Nope. Hiding in the stream? Nuh Uh. Up in these branches? In this tree hollow? Behind this rock? Nope, nada, no siree.'

"~Kuwata~"

"~Mis dre vus~"

"~Tsuno wovalai~" "~Misvus mis dre vus~"

"~Tsurhizhi~"

"~Dre ea vus~"

"~Pura alekai~" "~Vusmis dre vus us~"

"~Kondevain~"

"~Mis dre vus~"

"~Umbu fer-?" "~Misvus drevus mis dre vus~"

I spin around feeling a mix of both surprise and exasperation at this cheeky little creature, wondering when the "Song of the Ancients" I was muttering to myself turned into a duet.

Misdreavus continues on singing its parts happily without me, its eyes shut as it bobs about in the air to the rhythm, before it suddenly realizes it's now performing a solo with an audience. Once he notices me however, instead of stopping, he seems to preen up, singing even more enthusiastically before looking at me as if expecting praise for his great talents.

"Bravo, Bravo." I offer hearty applause. The lil' guy seems to have a bit of an ego, but I don't really mind playing along, and honestly, the singing was quite good, certainly better than mine. Surprisingly though, instead of preening and puffing up more, he seems surprised and embarrassed now that he actually got the praise he asked for, paling and looking down while mumbling before suddenly vanishing.

"Does that mean I found you?"

"Mis!" He reappears suddenly, screeching in my ear in a huff, seemingly enjoying the bit of a jump I react with. "Mismis dreavus mis!" He hovers above me and seems to look down upon me pityingly as if to say 'Well of course I let you find me,- since OBVIOUSLY you never would of.' The effect of it is a bit ruined by his fidgeting and the way his eyes shift back and forth though. 'He thinks he's telling me nonsense but the annoying thing is… He's probably right.

"Well let's go find Drifloon then, I'm gonna check around the shack next." Misdreavus opens his mouth as if to say something, before closing it suddenly, seemingly deciding otherwise. 'Odd.'

I look around a bit under the part of the porch that remains intact, but finding nothing I brace myself and head inside trying to watch my step to avoid any possible planks of rotten wood. Inside the shack is just as dreary as the outside, with broken furniture strewn around, and old torn paintings lining the walls. A few formerly plush, now rather damp chairs and couches still seem in functional, if not good, condition. A brick fireplace seems to serve as part of the foundation of the building and still seems to be in good condition. In a large chair closest to the fireplace and turned away from the door to face it I see a hint of purple behind it and walk on over.

"Found you Drifloon time for the next-" Blood-red eyes glare directly at me, oozing displeasure at my presence. The purple I saw forms a rotund body that seems to bleed into the shadows around it's seat, its claws digging into the armrest. Two horn-like protrusions sit atop its head like cat ears, leading into a deluge of spikes that run down the back of its form and dig into the chair. Instead of the cheshire grin I might have expected to see, instead a grimace mars the Gengar's face.

I hop back rapidly, not wanting to somehow set off the Gengar's anger "Sorry to bother you, I didn't realize there was someone else here." Outside I can hear Misdreavus cackling like it's just played the best prank of its life. 'You little brat.'

Gengar huffs and waves its hand toward the door, before rubbing it across his face and letting out a long-suffering sigh. "Gen gar" the two curt syllables seem to be full of simple and direct meaning 'Get out, I can't be bothered to care about you.'

I quickly make my exit, giving Misdreavus a glare "Such banal and uncouth pranks are clearly below someone of your station." He lets out a final laugh, patting me on the head with its tendrils and singing a happy "~Mis!~".

"FLOON! Drif driiif…" Driflloon barrels over, appearing both cross and very sad that she was abandoned while we seemingly played on our own.

"Sorry Driflloon, someone decided it would be funny not to warn me the house was off-limits for games." I shoot the smug and satisfied-looking Misdreavus another glare. Driflloon seems to be placated by the information though still a bit sad.

"Sorry girl, I prolly need you to bring me back now too since the sun already set a while ago. Maybe I could come back to play more tomorrow if it's alright?"

Drifloon visibly deflates more and more as I go on, clearly unhappy and unresponsive even after I ask my question. After a moment she tilts her head questioningly. "Floon?"

"I said Maybe I could come back-" Drifloon tackles me, before happily dancing around in a circle cheering. Misdreavus seems surprised at first before a small shy smile appears on its face.

I take a breath and smile, feeling that things are finally coming together.

[Author's Note]

Wooo baby we finally made it!

We now firmly have confirmation on the type Izzy will be using its ghost! Honestly, it was never meant to be a super big secret as I left plenty of hints all around, even the title being a bit of a spooky pun (For those that aren't familiar the meaning of "Graven" used in the title is "to fix (something) indelibly in the mind.") but I'm happy to finally reach the big reveal and also to get to the thing I'm most excited about, actual Pokemon.

I'm sure someone will ask about the song search for "Song of the Ancients Devola and Popola Duet", on you tube if you want to hear it. The words are from Emi Evans chaos language and are generally just meant to evoke particular feelings and flow well while giving a sense of "this sort of sounds like foreign words I've heard before."

If pop culture references aren't really your thing, don't worry I don't plan to inundate the fic with them, but every once in a while something might come up, I just felt that this particular moment fit well for the 2 characters to use something like that.

Also funnily, in my original draft for this story the childhood arc was a lot more anemic and less relevant besides just settling in before I suddenly realized, "How the fuck am I writing a ghost-type specialist fic with full reincarnation and not having the introduction to ghosts being 'MC gets kidnapped by a Drifloon', this is so perfect it has to be included."

So now here we are, I always was a bit confused when I would see authors mention things like "the characters just did X, or the story just went X way, but I think I'm beginning to get it more, Felicity also has been changing a lot from my first mental image of her but I think it fits more.

On the topic of cliffhangers, honestly, I hate them and try to avoid them. If I was writing them in I would have just ended this chapter where it gave the description of the Gengar's eyes, but I feel that sort of pointless tension just feels so unneeded at times. If I think the tensions actually relevant to setting the mood I'll use them, but I'm not going to cliffhanger bait every week just to try to make people keep reading.

Finally sorry for the late chapter today, the power went out while I was trying to finish it last night and that was kinda just that. I'll see you on Friday, thanks for reading and please send any feedback you can offer ^_^