[Part 1]

"Where is your human, pet?" a sudden voice made her flinch. Dammit, how did ANYONE sneak up past her omnidirectional vision? (Was she THAT tired? Yeah, she probably was)

"Ain't got one," she turned her head after locating the source of the voice, "What's it to you?"

The owner of the voice tiredly sat on a large rock just a few meters away, one of the sharply clawed hands supporting the head. An emaciated, sickly looking figure of flowing whites, dull greens and protruding spikes, particularly accentuated by a scarlet, fierce crystal pierced through the chest without any visible discomfort, was looking down at her with blood-red eyes that were containing a mix of exhaustion, coldness, deep thought, but most of all - power.

Oh, Arceus, was there power in that gaze. Pure, deep and assured, fully contradicting the exhausted, malnourished look. The kind of power she hasn't seen in anyone's eyes in her entire life. If she was in any shape to fight, she'd challenge this - lady, right? - here and now, regardless of the consequences. Unluckily, she was already running on fumes. The intimidating lady seemed to notice this as well.

"Your kind does not live here, or anywhere close. And you'd be captured by humans-" it was hard not to notice the disgust that seeped into this last word (well, THAT was new, even among other Pokemon), "-long before you'd be able to migrate here"

"Can't say they've never tried," the dragon chuckled, tiredly flopping onto the ground, seeing as this talk would likely take a while, "Had to fight through a literal army just to get here from my last hideout"

"You brought them here," the scarlet eyes dangerously glinted.

"More like THEY brought ME here. Chickened out when I kept killing everything they threw at me, gave me an opening to escape out of their mob straight to this place, and lost me soon after I've entered the forest. I think they hoped that I'll die here, or something," she chuckled, and gave a conspiratorial wink, "It'd be a shame if I survived, recovered, and went back there to give them hell, right?"

She figured it wouldn't hurt to pitch this idea. Worst that could happen is that she'd be overpowered and killed, and going out in a blaze of glory wouldn't be THAT bad (lest of all, at the claws of an intimidating-looking lady). The sickly figure gave her a long, thoughtful look, as if weighing both pros and cons of this proposition. Until finally, the intimidating lady left that spot on the rock, slowly flowing through the air towards the dragon, as if completely unaffected by the earth's pull.

"This mountain is a place of mourning, and it is not to be defiled by humans or their machinations," despite this emaciated bipedal creature being noticeably shorter (and looking definitely sicker) than her, she felt really small for just a moment, "You are not to disturb this place. Not to disturb its peace. Not to disturb my slumber. You will stay away from the building at the top of this mountain. You will not draw any further attention of humans to this place. And you are not allowed to leave. Follow these rules, and you'll exist"

"Uh… Got it?.." for now, these rules were acceptable. She'd need at least a few weeks of recovery and rest before she could even think about something risky, like leaving or trying to fight this lady. And by that time, maybe the apparent master of this mountain will chill a little? "What do I call you, by the way?"

"Call?"

"A name, title, something like that? So I don't have to 'hey, you' every time?"

"You really are a runaway pet. Thinking same way as humans"

"I'd rather that you didn't call me that. I've been free for decades," she couldn't stop herself from frowning at being called that word AGAIN. Which was, you know, pretty risky.

However, the scarlet gaze finally dulled somewhat, allowing the dragon to let out a breath she was apparently holding.

"The local Pokemon call me the King of the Mountain. Humans call me the Ghost of Mt. Hiei. I do not have any other names"

"Okay, I am NOT calling you 'Ghost'," the dragon cringed. It sounded like they made fun of this lady's complexion, "But 'Hiei' could be a name? Can I call you that?"

"I don't care"

"Ight, Hiei it is. Speaking of, I overheard humans call me something-something-Inabayama. Maybe I should use that rather than… ugh… a 'pet name'," she concluded.

"You talk too much," Hiei spoke tiredly, "Come, I'll show you where you may sleep"

[Part 2]

Name: ?

Codename: Ghost of Mt. Hiei

Species: ?

Height: ?

Gender: ?

Weight: ?

There are no witness accounts of encounters with the Ghost of Mt. Hiei, though it's speculated to be a Pokemon, rather than a natural phenomena. If it is a Pokemon, it's highly territorial, and extremely dangerous.

It is believed that the Ghost has emerged during the Disappearing Incident of Mt. Hiei of 30/09/2XXX, when all contact with the Mt. Hiei research facility has been lost. 1525 people disappeared during the incident and its aftermath, including research facility members, rescue workers, reconnaissance groups, police officers, military personnel and league combatants. A total exclusion zone was established around Mt. Hiei using remote-controlled drones to confirm the borders.

379 people have disappeared on Mt. Hiei in the following 102 years, including 24 [redacted]. […]

This file was containing less useful information than Taro hoped for. Hell, they even managed to omit the information on WHAT Mt. Hiei research facility was doing! Either this information was even more classified than anything about cryptids, or some numbskull like Stevenson decided that it didn't matter, and now, over a hundred years after the incident, there was a snowball's chance in hell to retrieve any of that info.

He briefly massaged his temples, in a meagre attempt to calm the pulsing headache, then returning his attention to the matter at hand. The Ghost being a Pokemon made sense - a chemical leak or some other environmental hazard contained exclusively to the mountain would not explain how they've never had anyone come back to tell the tale, be it a human, a Pokemon or even a drone. And seeing how it kept killing people - including 24 'professionals', detective hazarded an educated guess - through the years meant that it was either something long-lived (like a Dragon or a Ghost type), or it had offsprings that also kept to the mountain and were able to kill even cryptids.

Either way, what this file did NOT tell Taro, is that wherever the Calamity would survive the encounter with the Ghost. He saw just how powerful the first cryptid was, and knew literally nothing about the other one. If Calamity could overpower the Ghost, or if they somehow came to a truce - or worse, left the mountain together - it would spell a greater disaster than the Pokemon League was ever equipped to handle.

Sighing, the detective forcefully shoved another dose of painkillers past his oesophagus, and went back to work at finishing compiling the list of suggestions for the League. Mostly about monitoring Mt. Hiei for any signs of trouble for the next few months and updating the file on Calamity (seriously, screw Stevenson).

After that, sadly, it was out of his hands.

[Part 3]

"We're here," Hiei finally informed her.

'Here' might've been a bit of a strong word, at least by the ridiculously high human standards. The two of them were in front of a one-store stone building at the foot of the mountain. One of its walls crumbled against a wide tree growing into its side, and the rest were covered in vines, mushrooms and dirt. No windows, no door, and the roof looked like it would leak during rain. There were two rusty steel barrels at the front, both filled halfway with rainwater.

By her own standards, it looked pretty good, all things considered. Inabayama has stayed at places far worse than this. And a leaky roof would honestly be a boon up until next winter - and the last one had only just passed mere weeks ago

"You'll live here. Destroy it, and you'll sleep in the open," the clawed hand then pointed across the remains of a road, to a small, simple, not necessarily human-made tower made out of large, watermelon-sized rocks coming to roughly Inabayama's height, "Every two days, the Pokemon living near this mountain leave food tributes there. You may eat those"

"Tributes for?.."

"Being allowed to live near. Less pesky humans trying to hunt them down"

"Makes sense"

"Follow the rules. I'll know if you don't," with that, she left Inabayama alone, floating up the mountain while being completely unimpeded by the uneven terrain.

Welp.

That lady was mildly terrifying even in her eyes, so she decided to follow said rules - at least for now. No point in looking for trouble when her body hurt in places she didn't know she had. Also, might as well get her proper share of relatively normal social interaction while she could. She didn't have any in… Years, at least?

Yep, that sounded about right.

[Part 4]

The morning came suddenly, and without any warning. And with it, came a sound of something relatively edible quietly squeaking at its own kind. Inabayama (finally, a better name!) has risen out of her improvised bedding made of loose foliage (she didn't bother shaking any trees on account of it maybe counting as 'disturbing the place'), her body still feeling most of yesterday's festivities. Still, she made her way out of the building, and towards the noise.

No matter how beat up she was, hunger was still an issue, so might as well get a snack of-

Yep, those are rats. About a dozen of smaller purple and black ones, and one bigger orange one. Catching the big one would be easy enough, and she might also snatch two or three smaller- wait, did these rats bring bird carcasses? And berries?

Oooooh, these must've been the 'tributes' Hiei mentioned. Also, the vermin quickly noticed her.

"W-what are you d-doing here?!" the bigger rat squeaked, looking absolutely terrified, "Y-you can't be on this m-mountain, the King will have your h-head!"

Oh. Of course they didn't know about Inabayama. She was pretty sure that the local King had a rather hands-off approach with her subjects. Plus, yesterday the scary lady also somehow looked even more exhausted than the dragon, so she was probably still sleeping.

Okay, this might be fun.

"Not if you don't squeal!" the dragon winked, "Tell you what, give me one of these birds and a few berries, and I'll be sure to scramble before King knows I was here!"

"W-what?!" the head rat balked, while the rest quickly stood as a living wall to protect their offerings from the intruder, "No wa-"

"Or! I could stay here all day, and once found, I'll tell the King that you guys brought me here for a tour"

"I-it'll be your head!"

"And maybe yours," Inabayama smirked.

The poor thing began shivering more and more, thinking about the possible consequences of such an event. Their own ever increasing panic and the dragon's unflappable attitude quickly boiling into SOME sort of decision, at which point the big rat opened their mouth to-

"Stop scaring him for nothing," suddenly came a familiar-ish tired voice, as Hiei floated to the scene, somehow looking about as exhausted as yesterday. She stopped a few steps away from both Inabayama and the rat, "This Goodra is my guest. At least for now. Tell the others, and be sure to bring some extra on her behalf"

"Oh! O-of course, King of the Mountain! I'm very sorry for p-presuming!" - the rat quickly agreed, then throwing quick look to the smaller ones, "Come, l-let's bring some more for the g-guest!"

The rats were quick to run away, marking the definite end of the fun before it could properly begin. Though the locals proved to be pretty gullible. Maybe Inabayama could find some other way to mess with them~

"Did you kill the old King of the Mountain and usurp his throne, or something?" the dragon guessed, looking at Hiei, who… Was already leaving, "Hiei, wait!"

"What." the sickly figure slowed, throwing a cold gaze over the shoulder.

"You… Wanna eat together?"