June 9th, First Year

Two months. Two hunters circled their catch, their eyes narrowed against the blinding summer sun as they crept forward through the damp undergrowth. One held up three fingers, not daring to reveal their location as they quickly moved so that they were to the side of their catch: an Ursaring. An unorthodox catch for sure, but you couldn't exactly be picky when food was scarce enough as it was already.

The two figures moved closer. Jaku snuck around the creature until she was almost behind it and waited for the signal. The Ursaring continued sniffing at the grass. Shige blew the whistle just a few paces in front of the bear and the kill was on.

Jaku lunged forward and sunk her blade deep into the beast's neck, curving the blade to cut into the bear's jaws. Shige exploded from the undergrowth and sliced open the Ursaring's eyes, hacking its legs to bring it down to the ground. With a heave, the two hunters regrouped and in unison, carved through the beast's exposed belly.

"Looks like we're eating well tonight," Shige panted, careful to avoid smearing blood on his tunic as he put away his dagger. ""Though, you didn't cut deep enough in your first attack. You might want to fix that in the future."

"I know what I'm doing," was all that Jaku replied with. In the growing months, Shige had grown egotistical. Then of course, Jaku was finally on the course of becoming a full-fledged clan member. "I'll bind its legs," she snapped, stowing away her saber. "Mind grabbing the others so we can take this thing back to camp? I don't fancy straining my back before the day's end."

Shige eyed the pokéballs on her belt and then her with a disapproving glance before disappearing into the undergrowth, his saber knocking loudly against his hip as he went. Once Jaku thought he'd truly gone, Lilith broke out of her ball and began licking the blood off of her arms and chest.

"Don't worry. We'll catch some more soon enough," she grunted, giving her partner a good scratch between the ears as she ruffled the thick fur along its face.

Not seeming to be content with her answer, Lilith sauntered away into the bog, followed closely by Ghost, Jaku's newly acquired Luxray. It had stayed by her side since the bought with Lord Wyrdeer. Those two always wanted to catch their own food so they hunted together. At least they weren't snarling at each other like they were before.

When she had come back to the mirelands ages ago with her four pokémon, Adaman had warned her that keeping that many partners (carnivorous pokémon, too) was dangerous. That she was responsible for keeping them well-fed and away from the clan children. It had never been a problem so long as they had been here, but Jaku had the feeling that things would soon change. Shige had even suggested that she consider creating a lodge.

"Some rangers prefer living on their own," he'd said a week ago as they talked over dinner. "Some do it because they can't control the pokémon they have and don't want to cause an accident." He gave her a knowing look, scowling as his eyes traveled to the pokéballs at her side. A scathing look.

Lilith was a big pokémon. Large enough that she couldn't fit in her shared hut alone and large enough that she was banned from walking freely in the village. None of her pokémon were permitted to sleep outside their pokéballs at night and that was something she knew they all loathed equally.

She'd been drafting plans with Karsh, a ranger in charge of construction in the clan, but was unsure where she would want to go. She wasn't a warden but she wasn't exactly shaping up to be a regular ranger either. To her knowledge, only one other person in the clan had pokémon and they had like three Psyducks.

And that was excluding that strange man that had been following her around like a lost puppy. Emmet, the man that looked eerily similar to Warden Ingo.

After their meeting in the Obsidian Fieldland, she had tried to point him in the right direction to finding Ingo. Especially after the bombshells that the man had unceremoniously dropped onto her during their chit-chat. The first bombshell was that Emmet was, like her and Akari and Ingo, from another point in time. He had traveled with the help of a legendary pokémon. A legendary pokémon that looked absolutely thrilled to see her and was loath to stop clutching onto her face during their initial meeting. The second was that he and Ingo were twin brothers. What a shocker.

The third was that, apparently, Emmet had known her from the future. That they had once worked together. That she had once gone by a different name (it didn't feel right, using it now). And throughout their meeting, Jaku had the distinct impression that though they worked together, they certainly didn't like each other very much. Or maybe that was just a one-sided street? Emmet seemed nice enough at first.

However, after a week of recovering from the fight with Lord Wyrdeer, the two had run into each other yet again. Emmet had had no luck running into Ingo, but he did keep running into the enraged wildlife. It was almost comical. Jaku had run into the elusive warden several times over the past two months and not a single time did Emmet manage to catch him to the point where Emmet had begun to start following her around in hopes of encountering his brother.

Adaman was… entertaining Emmet by letting him stay around the Diamond Heath solely due to the fact that Emmet wasn't hiding anything when it came to where he came from and how he came to travel to Hisui. After all, Almighty Sinnoh was the ruler of time. A person that could completely disregard time was, in fact, regarded as a god to literally everybody else in the clan apart from her.

"You are just begging to get mauled by a wild pokémon, aren't you?"

Jaku yelped as a pair of hands came down roughly on her shoulders. She jumped up, already moving to unsheathe her blade. "Shige! Will you stop scaring me like that?!"

"You really ought to not zone out out here." He plopped down next to her with a bag of berries, popping a few of the smaller ones into his mouth. "Especially since your trial is in two days." He sent her a glance. "You nervous?"

Jaku shrugged. "Somewhat. Rez told me that Adaman was planning on upping the ante since I can train pokémon. Skies above, I hope he doesn't make me kill a Hippowdon or something of that ilk."

"There you go again with that weird phrase," Shige complained jokingly. "'Skies above'. What does that even mean, you weirdo?"

Jaku pinched the bridge of her nose between her brow and pulled out a wad of spare meat she'd been saving as a snack, giving a few bits to Dusk and Peanut who had emerged from their pokéballs to enjoy the sunshine. "It's like saying 'Almighty Sinnoh' or something."

"So you're using my beloved deity figure as a curse word?" Shige didn't look offended but there was something in his gaze that set Jaku on edge.

"I'm not cursing! Geez! See, that's what it means: geez!"

"Like I said. Weirdo."

Two days had given her no time to prepare herself for her trial. Before the sun had even risen, Jaku was ripped out of her bed, blindfolded, stripped of her pokémon belt, and taken out of the camp. Two pairs of warm hands guided her by her shoulders for what seemed like hours until she could feel the wet earth sinking beneath her boots. The blindfold was then ripped off.

Jaku flinched as she tried to acclimate to the bright sunlight overhead. Before her stood someone she didn't think would even be here for her trial: Warden Arezu. The red-haired woman stood on the balls of her feet, her eyes looking anywhere but at her as a group of rangers and guardsmen fanned out at her sides.

They stood in a wide clearing bordered by lush mangrove trees, a cacophony of chirps and croaks resounding through the air. Thick tall grass and cattails brushed against Jaku's pants as she moved to kneel; it was custom when doing a trial. At least, that was what Shige said.

"Jaku," Arezu began. "Today is your trial day but I'm sure you already know that! Of course you would know that! Adaman put me in charge of directing this trial so let's get right down to it. You've got experience with pokémon so your trial is going to involve working with pokémon. It's different than what we usually do. It's a work in progress."

"…I see."

"This one should be fun, actually." Arezu's voice lowered as the guards and rangers gave her some funny looks. Jaku didn't pay any mind to them, though. "You're going to be tracking down one of our rangers after sundown. I think you two are friends? His name is Shige."

Jaku gave a deep sigh. "Alright. What's the catch?"

Arezu beamed. "It's a game of capture the flag and you're not the only person looking for Shige!" Three other rangers stepped forward into the clearing, bright yellow scarves tied around their waists and arms. Beside them were one pokémon each. "You have to find Shige wherever he is and get him back to camp before these three do. You're allowed to use force, but you can't sick your pokémon on them. Status moves are allowed though. Oh! And you can only use one pokémon."

One of the rangers gave her a malicious smile, calling for a Pachirisu to join him. "And we won't make it easy either. It's a three-on-one. Think of us as predatory pokémon looking for an easy meal."

"And you can't use pokémon that can fly, swim, or crawl underground to try to get around the other rangers. The chase has to stay topside where you can be seen and chased!" Arezu declared. "The first one back to the camp with Shige in tow is the winner. If it's not you, then you fail! Make sense?"

"I suppose it does?"

"Good!"

Another of the rangers nudged her, a Lickilicky following along at his heels. "None of us were told where Shige was put so we're all a bit blind," he muttered. He was much taller than her with his long dark hair in thick dreads, his tunic cut shorter to reveal his forearms. "This is the first time I've gotten to bring Lichi along for a trial. I hope we have fun out there." He gave her a patient smile and then his grin widened, exposing sharp canine. "Do your best," he jeered.

Jaku had a plan. A risky but quite simple plan. That was, she would cover herself head to toe in mud and sod and stay atop the ridge surrounding the Scarlet Bog. There was no way anyone would get to the camp without her knowing about it and they'd never mentioned having to get to Shige first. She'd just wait for the other three rangers to start the hunt and then she'd swoop in and steal the catch before they could retaliate. She would pass this exam easily. Especially with Ghost on the prowl.

On the way here, she'd noticed that something was… off. She would walk through clearings where the wind would suddenly stop and the grass would stop moving. The river would grow sluggish, and the surface of the bog would grow still. Weird. The bog was always crawling with Croagunks and Stunky. What would chase them away?

She shook her head. She needed to concentrate on the task before her.

Jaku paused. Something moved just to the southwest of the ridge. Ghost perked up, whiskers twitching and eyes glowing gold. Its tail tip quivered, and its claws slid out to grip the rocks. Ghost gave her a nod and began to creep forward leading her down the slope as they approached the intruder.

They got closer and as the sun vanished over the horizon, Jaku could make out two pairs of human footprints in the mud. Undergrowth crashed apart in the distance. She'd rehearsed her plan with Ghost as they arrived but now, the prospect of engaging this stranger made her heart race. One false step, and she could end up chasing her intruder over the finish line and failing her assessment.

It was the ranger with the Lickilicky. Both of the men were covered with mud and sod like her, creeping low to avoid detection.

Shige had his hands bound in front of him with vines and rope and he was gagged, staring headlong at the grass looking quite bored as the ranger from before heaved him over his shoulder as though he weighed less than a sack of potatoes.

This far along, neither of them would be expecting an attack from behind with the element of surprise. Jaku steeled herself and gave the signal to attack.

Ghost slammed into the Lickilicky, enveloping the offending pokémon in a wave of blistering electricity. The obscured ranger whipped around, a delighted almost frenzied grin on his face as he stood to his full height, mud dripping down his chin as he towered above her like a behemoth.

Her mind flashed immediately to the image of Lord Wyrdeer looming over her, eyes glazed over and mouth dripping with foam. The ranger before her stood loosely like a puppet cut from his strings, the bolts of lightning from Ghost washing his face in sharp disturbing shadows. At her fear-struck expression, his grin grew even wider.

He effortlessly tossed Shige to the side like a broken toy and drew from his sheath a long engraved wooden dagger. "There you are," he growled lowly. "I was wondering when you were going to come out from hiding."

Jaku had not been expecting the man to lunge at her like a wild animal. He caught her right in the gut with a fist and forced her back into the mud, his dagger flashing in the moonlight. Jaku recoiled from the hit and forced her knee into the man's belly. He didn't so much as flinch, seeming to smile even harder at the contact. Another flash of his dagger and Jaku feigned to the side. There was no way she could roll this man over or even overpower him at that.

In a flash, Ghost threw himself into the man and sent him skidding across the clearing. The ranger landed gracefully on his hands and flipped himself over onto his feet, his eyes flashing with pure malice as he rose.

"Lichi, Screech!" Drips of mud exploded into the air as the man's pokémon let out a ghastly wail, Jaku forcing her hands over her ears. Ghost recoiled back as though he'd been struck, his eyes scrunching with pain as he skidded back to defend her.

"Ghost, focus on that ranger! Electric Terrain!" Jaku swept her free hand over Ghost's back before ducking away, trying to send a quiet message to focus on attacking. Jolts of electricity sparked underfoot, illuminating the woods and in turn the two wielders and their partners. At least he had heard her. "Thundershock!"

"Protect!"

The flash of lightning from Ghost met a clear barrier almost instantaneously as the ranger seized Shige by the binds around his arm and dragged him away. Jaku huffed and gave chase, calling another Thunder Wave to put the Lickilicky behind him. The chase was on. Either she caught up to the ranger and claimed Shige as her prize or this man would beat her to the finish line. Tricky bastard.

Ghost raced ahead of her and the ranger, spreading a wall of lightning that blocked the man square in his tracks. When he tried to flee to the side, Jaku met him head on with a swipe of her dagger. He parried, forcing her back with his greater height and weight into the mud once more.

Ghost made to lunge at the man but was interrupted as the Lickilicky emerged from the ground and performed a Giga Impact that made the ground shudder. She couldn't see the two pokémon fighting anymore, too focused on the man atop her as he aimed at her arm holding her dagger.

"Get off me," Jaku hissed. She wasn't above spitting.

"Or what?" the ranger spat back, forcing one of her legs back down from where she'd been bracing to kick him in the groin. He chuckled darkly.

Jaku reared back and headbutted the man, using her free fingers to pry at the ranger's eyes. She just needed to wedge her nails in to do some actual damage.

He yelled and cursed at her, Jaku kicking him away as she tried to flee. The ranger managed to get an impressive grip on her thigh and pulled her back down. The position would've been particularly suggestive if the murderous look on the man's face wasn't so terrifying.

"Ghost! Electric Terrain!"

"Your partner can't help you now." One of his hands found its way into her hair and pushed her into the mud face-first. Jaku bucked back, stabbing her dagger into his exposed thigh. The man yelled and Jaku finally kicked him away, stumbling on the slippery land as she grabbed Shige by his bound arms and dragged him away. Frantic footsteps sped after her and the accompanying heavy breathing told her that the ranger was right on her heels.

She couldn't make any sudden stops while dragging Shige along and she couldn't carry him either like the ranger could. She would have to resort to different tactics. The footsteps behind her were becoming louder and closer. "Ghost! Thunder Wave!"

She slipped, the ranger just barely missing the tree where she was a second prior. The dagger sank into the trunk with a loud 'shunk' and now the fear of this man had really been set into her bones. This man is actually trying to kill me.

Jaku forced Shige behind her into the undergrowth and hacked back at her attacker with her saber, tearing at his yellow scarf in the process as she called for another Thunder Wave, her back to a tree. To her surprise, the ranger dropped his dagger altogether in favor of using his hands. He managed to find and seize one of her forearms, pushing her up against the trunk of a tree until they were chest to chest.

She could feel his heart racing in his chest, his body too warm and too close and his heavy breathing too loud in her ears. Something hard rubbed up against her stomach and she felt her skin begin to crawl with apprehension and disgust.

"Going somewhere?" he laughed quietly, slowly winning the power struggle as he wrestled the saber out of her hands, tossing it away into the darkness.

"Ghost! Thunder Wave!"

Jaku screamed and kicked at him to no avail. Every scream she let out made him twist at her arms harder and every curse she spat at him caused him to smile wider. This man was a monster.

"Thanks for the easy win," he smiled, forcing his knee up into her stomach. She gasped in pain, trying to force his hands away as he pinned both of his wrists above her with one single large hand. "Who knew it'd be so easy to overpower somebody so much-" his free hand found its way to her throat, giving it a light squeeze.

She was panicking. She knew she was panicking. He's going to strangle me to death! Was this just part of the trial or was she actually going to die out here? The pain of him binding her wrists together was starting to become unbearable. With what little air was left in her, Jaku gave a final command, desperate for the incoming move to connect.

"Ghost! Thunder Wave!"

With one last forceful shove, Jaku managed to force the ranger a few inches away from her, putting him right into the range of Ghost's paralyzing move. He froze and sank to his feet, his deranged grin sinking into a pissed grimace. Jaku seized Shige by his arm and scrambled away gasping for breath and desperate to escape the edge of the bog. Anything to get away from that deranged lunatic.

She gave a quick halt to stop, hurriedly loading Shige onto Ghost's back as the electric-type took off with Jaku in close pursuit. They seemed to make it a good distance away from the treeline but the chase had not ended yet. A whistle in the air alluded to an incoming attack. Boulders slammed into the ground next to Ghost, nearly knocking her partner off of its paws.

The ranger came sprinting like a madman out of the woods, his eyes crazed and a smile still stretched across his face. The light of the torches made him look even more sinister. Jaku ran faster, refusing to glance behind her as the squelching footsteps grew louder and louder. Her peripheral vision began to cut out. "Keep running, Ghost! Take him home!" she yelled.

She then spun around and blocked his way, catching him around the midriff before dragging him down to the ground. If Lickilicky gave chase, she didn't see it. She straddled him, trying with great difficulty to pin his wrists down as the larger man thrashed about. He got a foot up under her straining legs and easily knocked her over, switching positions.

And when he continued his violent assault on her arms and neck, she kicked, shoved and clawed at the ranger, jamming her fingers into his eyes. It wasn't very effective. The sounds of pokémon battling in the distance grew fainter and fainter.

"Looks like your friend is gone," he cackled, pulling out a muddy dagger from his waistband. Her dagger. "And you're all alone. You've been a good little chase but it's time to give up." He forced her onto her stomach and kneeled on her back, holding the tip of the wooden dagger against the back of her neck.

"That's enough!"

The pair paused as a pair of familiar people ran up to them. The ranger on top of her quickly stood up and dragged her to her feet, his crazed smile returning to how it was before the trial started. At her hesitation, he gave her a challenging stare and shook her by the scruff of her tunic. She shoved his arm away.

"Leave it to Akanti to scare the living daylights out of our challenger." Adaman shook his head as he approached, giving the ranger beside her an exhausted glare. "It's supposed to be thrilling. Not terrifying. You do this every single time, you- ugh! Nevermind." He then gave Jaku an approving smile. "You passed your trial, Jaku. Come on, both of you. And Akanti? A word about your… strategy."

The man, Akanti, nervously rubbed the back of his head and nodded. "Of course, Adaman." Jaku could only stare as the two walked off in the lead, leaving her alone with a very relieved and very shocked looking Arezu.

"Yeah, so I was going to warn you about Akanti earlier," she started, gently guiding Jaku along as they started up the hill toward the settlement. "He likes scaring the pants off of the candidates. No, let me rephrase that. He loves terrifying the new candidates. I have no idea why. I'm so sorry, I should've-"

"I am never going near that man ever again," Jaku growled.

The clan celebrated Jaku's graduation as a full-fledged ranger with a feast and perhaps a lot of mead and irresponsible drinking.

"You don't look too happy."

Jaku looked up as a familiar face sat down nearby. Almost immediately, a tiny pair of hands settled themselves inside her hair and a light humming filled her ears. "Big Mac, we talked about this." She carefully removed the Celebi from her head and instead nestled the tiny fairy pokémon in her lap. "What are you doing here, Emmet? I thought you were still looking for leads on where Ingo is?"

Emmet gave her a sour glare, as he crossed his arms on the table. "I am. There are no leads. I do not know how but my brother is moving too fast to be tracked."

In a quieter undertone, she asked, "Have you tried figuring out where your brother lives? He's the warden of the highlands, so I'd guess that he lives somewhere in the mountains. Either that or with the Pearl Clan."

"I know that," Emmet groaned. "I have asked. Everybody. In Jubilife Village. They-" he paused, his silver eyes catching on the shadows at the edge of the camp- "They do not like me very much."

"I thought you'd blend right in with that costume of yours," she added sarcastically, eyeing his ripped Gingko Guild uniform that he'd been using as a disguise. "Wait. Why don't you just ask Warden Melli? They share the Highlands. If anything, the guy could point you in the right direction."

She was a bit relieved to get away from the rest of the camp once the festivities began to die down. All she wanted was some peace and quiet. To reflect. Or maybe, just to be alone. Truly alone.

To her surprise, nobody else was milling about along the shore. Moonlight glinted on the still surface of the lake, and she noticed it again: the distinct lack of birdsong or the lap of waves along the shore. It was not the type of quiet that brought peace but the kind that drew your questions toward the source.

She figured she would have to wash off all the mud caked to her skin anyhow and now would be the perfect time despite the eerie atmosphere surrounding the lake. She removed her boots, released her partners, and gently entered the lake, clothes and all. The water parted but it did not ripple outwards. Strange.

Something floated over the surface of the water, ribbon-like tendrils drawing her closer. Jaku felt a headache begin behind her eyes and winced, trying to exit the lake. She couldn't move. Something smooth and ice-cold trailed around her legs and pulled her off of the lake bed toward the small island in the middle.

She tried yelling to get her pokémon's attention, but they were frozen along the bank, staring in the direction of the party, seemingly not having heard her cries for help. Even her own voice seemed to die out immediately after it left her lips. No echo, no nothing. Just static.

The creature beneath the waves brought her toward the shore of the lake island, forcing her onto the soft sand with its muzzle; a Gyarados. The headache worsened. Without much of a choice, Jaku stumbled up to the island, finding no secret entrance or cave. Why had she thought there would be one there?

"BECAUSE THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME YOU HAVE BEEN HERE."

Jaku froze. That was not the sound of a man. The ground shuddered and swayed under her as she was forced to her knees. But she could still see. A large clawed foot sank into the mud before her, the limb thicker than her torso. Whatever it was, she knew that she was not supposed to look at it so she shut her eyes tightly.

"YOUR PRESENCE BRINGS INSTABILITY." The creature set down another large foot, a new kind of chill settling into her body. "YOUR STUMBLING UPON THIS PARADOX TEARS AT THE FABRIC OF TIME WHICH CANNOT BE MENDED UNTIL THE GEARS ARE RESTORED TO THEIR PROPER PLACES." The creature's breath was now on her back, causing the dirt to spray up into the air. "I WILL GUIDE YOU AS MY CHAMPION. COLLECT THE GEARS OF TIME AND RETURN THEM TO ME. COLLECT THEM AND THAT WHICH HAS BEEN SEPARATED FROM YOU WILL RETURN."

Jaku snapped back to on the shore of Lake Valor, staring at the frozen waves around her as her waterlogged garments clumped around her legs and waist. Had she been hallucinating? She rose to leave, fearing the implications of its truth when she felt a new weight around her neck.

A thick silvery object hung from her neck on a string of blue and white beads, its center glowing with moonlight. No. It looked like she couldn't ignore what she'd been putting off for so long: her role to play in this time traveling nonsense.

She silently wished that Akanti would've gone through with trying to strangle her earlier and retreated back towards the camp.