July 28th, First Year

Akari woke up cold, sore, and covered in goosebumps. She sluggishly shifted the blankets off her body, her dry lips curling with disgust at the sensation of her clothes sticking to her clammy skin. All she could see was the murky black interior of… wherever she was. She heaved herself up with a loud sneeze and wrapped her warm but moist blanket around her shivering form.

Her throat felt as dry as a desert and her tongue as though it were a dry sponge. Nausea roiled in her belly as though she'd eaten something foul. Gods above, I'm thirsty! How long had she been out for? Hours? Days? Weeks?

"Oh my." A gentle voice pooled from the darkness, soft near the shell of her ear. A gentle hand settled on her shoulder, keeping her steady as another moved the hair from in front of her face. "Don't move so quicky now," the voice chided her. In a quieter voice, they whispered, "You still look so frail."

"… Hrnn. Hello?" Akari squinted harder in the dark.

"Ah! No need to strain yourself, my girl. Close your eyes now. I'll light a lamp for you."

Akari pulled her blanket over her face as a precaution. Only a moment later was the hand back on her shoulder, easing her to lay against the metal frame of the cot.

"Take it easy now. You can open your eyes but- uh- don't do so too quickly now."

Akari paused. Did she… know that voice? She cocked her head to the side. "Who… who's in here with me?"

"Professor Laventon, at your beck and call," came a lighthearted response. "Haha… ha. I'm only kidding, of course. It is merely my turn to keep an eye on you, my girl. I didn't expect that you would wake up today and… oh! But that's a good thing! Yes! A good thing!"

"…How long have I been asleep for?" Akari slowly peeled the blanket off, finding herself staring at the dimly lit interior of a small tent. It was a dull drab gray, wide leather tarps bunched near the entrance as if holding the door closed. Numerous other cots were folded up along the wall, clean linen hanging tied to the support poles. Her bed was the only occupied one in the tent. To her side was a shoddy wooden stool and there, leaning against her cot frame with a piece of white fabric in hand, was Professor Laventon, a pair of small reading glasses on his nose.

The man peered down at her, his eyebrows scrunched together. He turned back to the piece of fabric and ever so gently peeled a yellow thread off with his finger. The instrument in his right hand clacked loudly. "…One moment, my dear. Let me finish up here."

"Finish with what?"

"Embroidering." The professor held up the end of the white fabric and- Akari gasped.

"That's my headscarf!"

Laventon nodded. "I know that." He turned back to the triangle of white cloth, leaning in as he squinted his eyes. "It was nearly torn in half by the time Mr. Volo brought you back to camp. I've been busying myself tending to it. It gives me… something to do."

From what Akari could see, her headscarf had been adorned with scraggly, hand-embroidered wildflowers, the last one being what looked like a dandelion. The man snipped something from the fabric and held it aloft, a self-satisfied sigh escaping his lips. He then carefully folded his glasses and tucked them into a pocket on his shirt. "As for… how long you've been resting… I'm afraid you won't like the answer to that question, my girl."

"A few days?" Akari tried.

The professor winced. "That- let's not quite get into that right now." He pulled a large leather bag from his side, pulling out a small cloth knapsack. "Let's focus on getting you back in tip-top shape, my girl. You must eat."

As if to agree, Akari's stomach rumbled loudly. She let a weak smile filter onto her face. "…I guess that sounds alright."

"Excellent. The nurses advised me to only feed you soft foods like crushed berries and to give you water. I'm afraid you won't be able to eat any hearty stews or solids until they clear you to do so. Oh, and sip your water! That was very important!"

Akari wasn't complaining. The berry slop and water were like delicacies to her, and she licked the remnants off her fingers despite the way the professor's eyes scrunched at her ministrations. She finished her portions quickly, swallowing down at the wave of nausea that was steadily building within her. "Well, I'm awake now. What did I miss? And how did I-"

"Get in the situation you're in?" Laventon guessed. He wore a sad smile. "It was an incident with an alpha Parasect. From what I heard in the report Rei sent me, you accidentally ingested some paralytic spores from the beast. You've been dozing ever since. We've only just managed to secure the herbs to cure your paralysis."

Akari… didn't remember that. Why didn't she remember that? She focused hard on the last cohesive memory she had. She was walking around a dilapidated building with Volo and Jaku… They were eating some potato mochi… Jaku guided them into the woods… Akari blinked. Her memory cut off sharply after she dipped into the shade of a willow tree all that time ago.

"What happened to Mister Volo and Jaku?"

"They're fine. Volo had covered his mouth just in time and Jaku's pokémon managed to burn through the remaining spores. Volo was ever so worried when he carried you to The Heath. We had to be extra gentle when moving you here to our second camp."

"Second camp?" Akari muttered. "What happened to The Diamond Heath? Where'd we move to, professor?"

"It's not far- I'm afraid the old camp was pillaged by some wild pokémon. They had to make an emergency evacuation. I'm not quite aware of what precedes the move as I've only just managed to arrive here a day or two ago."

Akari nodded and then eyed the older man beside her with suspicion. "I thought you were more a fan of desk work. How come you're all the way out here in the mirelands now?"

The man chuckled nervously, ruffling the dark curly hair atop his scalp. Akari had only then noticed that the man wasn't wearing his usual ugly hat.

"I'm afraid Rei has updated an astonishing portion of his pokédex. So much so that I had to come here to pick them up to ascertain the data from them immediately."

He's not here for me. Akari didn't know why that thought immediately saddened her. Professor Laventon was just the silly man that took her in. It's not like he would adopt her or anything. She was plenty nice to her on her first days, helping show her where things were and who was who. Did she trust him? A little. It was hard to say. She must have a dad somewhere else… right?

"And then, I heard what happened to you. Oh, the letters were late by nearly two weeks!" His voice dipped into anger and concern, and it was what brought Akari back to the present. "Two whole weeks when the captain has an Abra that knows how to Teleport! I was beside myself with worry when I heard."

"About who?" Akari tested him. "Rei?"

"Him?" Laventon gaped. "Rei is a capable lad, and besides, he was the one who thought to send the letters telling me of your terrible status affliction. He is my boy, so of course, I made it a priority to check up on him."

Akari blinked. "Rei is your son?"

Laventon jumped in his chair, his fingers curling as he struggled to straighten himself in his chair. "No! Heavens, no! The boy and I look nothing alike! Phrasing!" The professor was laughing, but it wasn't tinged with humor. "No, Akari. Rei- he's my trusted research assistant and only that."

"Really?" Akari wondered aloud. "You sure?"

Laventon gave a dry laugh, mopping a bead of sweat from his face. "I think I would be quite certain if the boy was mine. He's a capable, courageous, and driven boy. I've never regretted the decision to take him under my wing since I landed at the port near Jubilife Village."

"So where's his family? I've never seen them around."

"That's not my place to say. His father is a craftsman- last I heard, the man left on an envoy to Kanto in the far south. His mother is supposedly a textile worker who's trading abroad. Rei works for me when they're not here."

"…Oh."

"Indeed," Laventon ended.

"Okay. So… why aren't you checking his research then? Why're you sitting in a stuffy old tent watching me sleep?"

"Phrasing, my dear girl," Laventon groaned. "It should be obvious. I wanted to make sure you were doing alright, even in the perilous state that you were in." He moped his forehead again, his face pointed at the ceiling with faint traces of exhaustion showing around his darkened eyes. "I can only be grateful that only one of you has managed to fall by the wayside during these dark times. I wonder when they're close to ending. Now-" he clapped his hands together, getting to his feet. "Since you are now awake and talking, I will make sure the nurses hear. Would you like a glass of water, my girl?"

"No, thank you."

After checking in with the nurses, Akari was cleared to leave her tent and explore. Albeit, she was limited to camp for the day. So, she did exactly that. She put on a spare Diamond Clan uniform (her old ones had been slashed by the great big Parasect) and stepped out into the weak sunlight.

Muddled gray clouds swirled overhead, another wave of torrential rain threatening to break. The willow trees swayed in the wind, their branches and trunks blanketed in tough black spores. Akari knew that they wouldn't detach from the tree bark but that didn't help to assuage her fears as she passed across the clearing.

All around her, the people of the Diamond Clan were working. Some were hammering in wooden spikes into the muddy turf. Others were reinforcing the bottom wall with thorn bushes and metal nails. A huddle of men and women ducked into the camp, their eyes sunken and their lips tight as they moved a long, dripping tarp into a massive tent in the camp center. Must be Adaman's tent, Akari thought to herself. All around her was a suffocating silence. She almost wished she'd have never woken up.

"My, my, my. Look who's finally awake."

Akari whipped around before the man could startle her, pointing an accusatory finger in the blonde's face. "You!" she seethed. Before her, Volo looked mildly entertained. "You tell me! How long have I been asleep."

"Barely over a month," Volo responded curtly. "I was afraid you might never wake up…"

Akari's breath hitched as she tuned out Volo's words. A month? I've been asleep for a whole month? You've gotta be kidding me! "You're serious?" she breathed. "What- how- who-" She leaned against a nearby wooden stake for support, Volo moving her to a boulder so that she could breathe. "A whole month and I've been doing nothing but sleeping?"

"You were paralyzed, my dear." Volo's voice was quiet but edged with concern. His one silver eye was dull as if he were remembering something unpleasant. "It's wonderful that you're awake now. You should rest a bit more though. You don't look quite ready for a big adventure."

Akari bristled at the idea. "I've wasted a whole month! I can't afford to rest!" She glanced at the clearing, disheartened at the large stripe of exposed earth cutting straight through camp. "What's happened since I've been out? I've asked Professor Laventon, but he thinks I can't handle being told the truth."

Volo sat at her side, one hand gently patting her knee. "Only a few things, dear. You haven't missed out on a lot."

"You say it like it's a good thing," Akari commented darkly, moving closer into her friend's touch.

"For you? It might be. For starters, Lady Lilligant is still rampaging higher up in the mountains. Clan Leader Adaman and Warden Arezu are attempting to figure out a path to her without being overcome by the Lady's toxic spores."

"What's next?"

"Ah yes. The Diamond Heath suffered a massive landslide. They had to evacuate due to their tents being washed into Lake Valor. They- we've resituated ourselves to Cloudpool Ridge in the meantime. Only a few days ago, we had another pokémon raid. No casualties. Just a mess to clean up." The older man pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "I wouldn't worry too much about the cleanup if I were you. I'd worry more about the Lady's rampage getting worse. The way Adaman talks about it, Lake Valor may just become poisoned with spores in the next few days."

Akari gazed blankly into her lap. She'd been sleeping through all of that? She felt a spike of shame and self-pity worm its way into her stomach. The nausea that roiled in her gut only increased. "… Some champion I am," she growled under her breath. How was she supposed to be a champion if she was sleeping through the big events and letting other people do her work?

She thought about her involvement with quelling Lord Kleavor, her grimace twisting as she remembered that she hadn't fought the lord. Her Rapidash, Mars, had done most of the work on its own. Warden Ingo had led the fight; she was only there to toss balms. And then, Jaku had quelled Lord Wyrdeer on her own! Maybe I'm not all that great, Akari sulked. Stupid Arceus keeps giving me all these difficult things to do and I can't even do them on my own. What kind of champion am I?

"You are an exceptional champion, my dear. You only need to see it in yourself."

Akari froze. "Did I just say that-"

"Aloud?" Volo finished her sentence. "Yes. Yes you did," the man chuckled. He turned to her, firmly grasping her shoulders before shaking her a little. "You are not responsible for being paralyzed, Akari. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. What matters now is that you rise to the occasion and work on becoming stronger. You want to quell Lady Lilligant, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Akari squeaked. Do I really? I was more than happy to let Warden Ingo handle things a month or two ago… She turned to Volo. "I want to help but I don't think I can do it on my own."

"You don't need to," Volo gently emphasized. "Nobody ever said you have to." He gave her a friendly nudge, his visible eye darting away to gaze uneasily at the wooden fence to the camp. "Now, I'm no excellent pokémon wielder, but I would always seek to assist you, my dear. Anything for my favorite customer. If there's anything you need, just ask."

Akari blinked. "You know, I still haven't purchased anything from you."

"Doesn't matter."

"Well, that doesn't make me a customer, does it- "

"My dearest Akari. I love you to death, but do you really have time for semantics?"

Akari giggled and hopped off the boulder. "I don't know what that means, so no, I don't." She then shot the man a mischievous glance. "I just wanted to bug you, though."

"You brat!" Volo teased, playfully swatting her arm.

That was new… Akari kind of liked it. She smiled widely and set her feet in the direction of her tent, waving at her good friend as she left. She was filled with a newfound energy to get stronger… but first, she would need to build up her team in preparation to face Lady Lilligant. And as she narrowly collided with a spore-covered tree, her courage slowly but surely began to dip.

July 30th, First Year

Akari stiffened with rage, biting her tongue as her precious Glameow was sent flying into a patch of ferns. On the opposite side of the clearing, Rei smirked, holding his red cap aloft, his eyes hidden in the shade of his hat.

"Two-to-zero! Ready your next pokémon!" the young man called.

"I can hear you just fine! No need to gloat!" Akari hissed back. She rolled her Beautifly's pokéball into her hand. This would be her first-time using Venus in combat and she was afraid the poor bug would be steamrolled quickly. I don't exactly like bugs, Akari whined to herself. And after that Parasect? You'd better not turn on me! She flicked the ball with her wrist and caught it in one quick movement. "We can still turn this around," she muttered to herself. "Let's go, Venus!"

There was a loud silence once the large butterfly was on the field. Even it seemed to glance back at her in confusion. Rei paused and let his cap drop back onto his head. His eyes glittered with amusement. "Uh, Akari. You know Beautifly is part flying-type, right?"

"… Yeah. So?"

Rei blinked. His grin grew wider by the second. "It's about to be a three-to-zero."

"Nuh-uh! Just watch!" She turned, catching Venus's gaze as the large butterfly fluttered mid-air. "Venus, use String Shot!"

The huge insect flew high into the sky, its colorful wings beating hard. It gave a loud chirp and quickly spat up the start of a thread.

Rei winced. "Nevermind! Otto, freeze that bug!" His Sneasel gave an affirmatory squeal, striking one curved claw against the other before it jolted into motion. The little weasel dodged one String Shot after another, building up speed to ricochet off a nearby tree. Its dark little body was a blur, too fast for Akari to accurately pinpoint. She would need to use broad moves if she wanted to win. And oh man, do I need to win.

"Venus, Stun Spore!"

"Not a chance! Otto, Icy Wind! Blast that pitiful fly out of the air!"

All of the silvery strings were blown clear as Rei's Sneasel cancelled its jump and in one quick motion, sucked in its chest and expelled a blanket of ice-cold air over the clearing. Akari was tossed back a few paces, hunching forward as the grass and tree leaves around her froze solid. Something heavy thumped into the grass a pace away from her: colorful wings. She growled, pausing when her pokémon twitched one of its legs. They were still in!

"Venus-"

"Otto, Agility and then follow up with Ice Punch!"

The little weasel ended the battle before Akari could even fix her posture. She glanced to where her pokémon had once been, instead coming face to face with a pair of beady, blood-red eyes. The creature grinned devilishly at her, sticking out its tongue at her before leaping back to crawl atop Rei's shoulder. Venus had been thrown against the trunk of a tree and was out cold.

"Down for the count!" Rei shouted. "Three-to-zero! Ready your next pokémon!"

"I…" Akari flinched. "I don't have any more pokémon left!"

Rei cackled. "I win! For once, I actually won something! Hurray!" The boy threw his cap into the dirt and did a little dance on the spot, his Sneasel joining in as the two twirled around each other in a victory dance. "Come on, Akari! You have to admit, it was pretty fun!"

Maybe for you, Akari wanted to say. She'd been hoping that she'd be able to beat her annoying teammate when she'd thought to challenge him earlier that day. Now, she would have to live with the embarrassment that she had lost to Rei of all people.

Rei grabbed her by her shoulder and pulled her into the dancing circle. "Don't be mad! It was only a mock battle!" The boy then brightened. "We can do some training together if you want to toughen up your pokémon! I know a great place where there's loads of cool pokémon to mess around with. They're not affected by the spores but they are pokémon. And Adaman doesn't really know what to do with us. You do have to prepare to fight Lady Lilligant… wait. I have an idea."

"No thanks," Akari drawled, pulling herself out of Rei's grasp.

"Aww, is somebody a sore loser?"

Akari whipped around to glare at the boy. "I am not a sore loser! I just- I was caught off guard, is all."

"So you were impressed by our strength?" Rei teased. He posed triumphantly, his Sneasel matching him as they lined up back-to-back, both pointing directly at her. "Of course, we're strong now! Otto and I have been training non-stop since we got to the mirelands! No wonder you were impressed. Did the professor tell you that I've already cleared a good chunk of the mireland pokédex? Bet he did-"

"Oh, cut it out, you big nerd."

"Sore loser."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

Akari was seconds away from imploding. What she would give to be the one rubbing his loss in his own face. Rei and that stupid Sneasel. He thinks he's so great just because he won a battle against me. That Sneasel is too strong for its own good anyway, Akari thought to herself as she edged away from the pair. And Jaku helped him catch it, so it's not really like he trained it to get that strong. Her anger dissipated into a cold indifference. I bet all his other pokémon are as weak as babies. Maybe if I challenge him again and force him to throw out his weak Pikachu…

"Hello, earth to Akari."

Akari jumped back, snarling as Rei and his pokémon towered over her. "What?" she spat angrily.

The boy blinked, holding his hands up in front of his face. He let his arms fall against his sides, his eyes narrowing. "…Is it just me, or have you been meaner lately? I was just trying to bring you back to the present. You don't have to talk to me like that."

"Next time, just call for me. No need to put your gross hand in my face. And I didn't talk to you like anything. That's just how I talk."

"I did call for you," Rei panned. "I'm just trying to help you. You don't have to spit at me every time I try to be nice to you."

Akari could feel his eyes on her as she rose to her feet. I'm not mean. I'm not a bully, either. If anybody is mean, it's you. "Like I said, that's just the way I talk."

"You don't talk like that to Volo. Don't think I haven't noticed."

Akari stiffened. "Volo has nothing to do with this-"

Rei's expression twisted to disdain and incredulous disgust. "You know what? Nevermind." He called for his pokémon. "Otto and I will be training alone, since you want to snap at us any chance you can get. Whenever you get over your bad mood, you can join us." He bent to pick up his partner. "Come on buddy, let's see if we can find some bug-types to practice on."

And that left Akari entirely alone. She wasn't supposed to be left alone while Lady Lilligant was rampaging. She turned, half annoyed and half concerned that Rei had so readily abandoned her. Surprised too that the boy had shown some self-respect. She was just about to open her mouth, but then- Akari took a deep breath and went back to sitting on the log. She wasn't going to chase after him. She didn't need Rei or his stupid suggestions. She had training of her own to do, anyhow.

She heavily considered leaving to do just that. But her legs wouldn't move. Neither would her arms. She sat stubbornly on the log, her arms crossed, her eyes pointed towards the churning gray skies above.

"You're no help, you know that?" She closed her eyes, half hoping that she'd get some kind of response from whatever was watching her struggle like a flipped-over Bidoof. "You could've just told me what you need me to do down here, but you didn't. You won't." She cradled her head in her hands. "I'm supposed to be the champion, so then why am I so weak? Why are my pokémon so weak?" She didn't resent her team if she could even call them that. She just wished that they were stronger.

She carefully took off her bag, taking the Mind Plate between her fingers. Maybe she could speak with her creator? It was called the Mind Plate after all. If these plates had the power to summon Arceus, maybe the Mind Plate's power alone would let her commune with her kidnapper.

"You're disgusting! I can't- how could you?"

Heavy rain poured into a steep stone hollow, Akari's shoes twisting deep into the mud as she stared at the person before her.

Rei was hunched over on the ground, his uniform torn and stained with blood as he laid with his face in his mud. His blood, Akari realized as the trail led from splitting wounds in the boy's side to a blood-soaked hatchet that Akari was white knuckling in her right hand. How had that happened?

Rei gagged, his bloodied hands grasping in the mud for something- anything- as he crawled away from her on his back, his teeth gritted in a fearful, nauseated grimace. "I know what you did," Rei choked, spitting up a mouthful of blood. "I need- I have to tell the village. You can't- you're no champion- What kind of champion would kill a baby?"

Akari snapped out of her vision as thunder roared overhead. She flinched, a terrible pain blossoming in her palms and at the base of her neck. Blood beaded in the meat of her thumb; deep indents from her own fingernails. She let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding and hurried to get to her feet.

"Rei!" She called. He couldn't know. He didn't know! Akari's heart began to race as she ran after the boy's wet footprints in the mud. There's no way he could've found out. I buried that horrible creature. Nobody else saw me, I know it! She skidded to a halt, confused when Rei's tracks disappeared entirely under a tangled mass of mangrove roots. "Rei, can you hear me! You need to come back! This isn't funny anymore!"

If he knew… what could he do with that knowledge? Akari swallowed hard, the knot of nausea in her belly growing almost unbearable as she twisted around a petrified oak tree. He would tell everybody of course. He would tell them what I did… But who would believe him? Akari stopped completely. Who would believe him? Who would believe a small nobody like Rei over a god-sent champion like her? She could just lie. Say that Oshawott escaped the pasture and that she'd been looking for him… That could work.

"Rei," she called.

"Over here."

Akari pushed her way through the undergrowth, preparing to fight the boy when she came up short. Rei stood just in front of a sluggish, churning brown river, his form rigid and his head angled straight down. He didn't so much as glance in her direction. "Akari, how far do you reckon we are from camp?"

"Probably twenty minutes. Why?"

Without so much as a word, Rei bent down and picked up a scrap of white-and-red fabric snagged upon a river rock. He carefully held it between his fingers, his eyes widening as a sliver of sunlight revealed a fresh blood stain over the center of the fabric strip. "It's covered in blood, Akari. I think- this belonged to Warden Ingo's brother." He turned. "You should get back to camp. Otto, we need the search the area, now."

"What for?"

"Hello? Bloody piece of fabric from a person who was kidnapped by pokémon a few days ago! You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

Rei did a quick facepalm before shaking his head. "Nevermind. You… go back to camp or something. Go be mean to somebody else for the day."

"I'm not mean-"

"You are," Rei retorted. "And I don't feel like being ridiculed or mocked. Tell Adaman that we found a piece of Emmet's coat. Please," he emphasized. Without another word more, Rei was off with Otto, the two following the curve of the river out of sight.

Akari blinked. That didn't answer her question of whether he knew or not. She shrugged. So what if he knew? She would just need to think of a good lie to tell the village folks to get them to believe her instead of Rei. The Mind Plate had been right before when it had shown her a picture of Oshawott standing by while she drowned. Maybe taking the right precautions would save her in the long run.

And besides. Who was Emmet and why would she waste time going back to camp? She had a certain merchant to seek out.