A monitor beeped. A woman laid catatonic on a bed. A young girl stood by the woman's side. A tear rolled down her face. A loud noise suddenly blared through the room.

An alarm blared. Arienne groggily groped for her alarm clock, reaching over Audino to hit the snooze button. Unfortunately, the Hearing Pokemon who was her habitual bedmate wasn't going to let that fly. Audino promptly turned the alarm off, then hopped out of bed and pulled off the covers. She was definitely a morning person. Arienne moaned and curled up on her massive 4-poster bed.

"It's 5AM…man…"

Seeing as her Trainer didn't seem willing to get up on her own, Audino resolutely trotted over to a smaller bed at the foot of Arienne's. There slept the other Pokemon in her possession: one that let out a Screech as it woke up.

"AHHHH! VIBRAVA, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD, RETURN!"

Vibrava, the Vibration Pokemon. Naturally, he and Audino were not a very good mix; Audino's ears were very sensitive, after all, and Vibrava liked to make noise. However, she was willing to bear the mayhem today. That was how important her Trainer getting up on time today was. And it certainly worked…Audino looked up at her Trainer.

"Audino…now you've REALLY done it…"

Audino tensed up and dashed out of the room, a bedraggled Arienne chasing after her.

—

Open Chapter: Into the Verdant Glade

Arienne met Kibe and Lewis at the gates of Castelia University, carrying her duffel bag. The morning sun shone down from the east, the direction of the destination.

Over the past week, she had learnt a lot about roughing it, as it were, from the two of them. She had successfully pitched a tent, started a fire, learnt about proper safety and disaster protocols, and much, much more. To be honest, she felt that it was probably more grueling than an actual expedition ever could be. She also became that much more aware about the sheer gap in experience between her and Kibe through this week. He already knew practically everything; he was merely reconfirming what he already knew, and learning about some specific techniques for working with and potentially caring for other team members.

The two guys were sitting in a four-wheeler, with Lewis in the driver's seat. This wasn't his personal vehicle; it belonged to the department. He would be driving them out to the rendezvous site.

"Rise and shine! How was your sleep?"

"Miserable. Audino basically kicked me out of my bed."

Arienne was far too tired to entertain Kibe's snark today, so she simply answered everything truthfully and listlessly. Kibe chuckled in response. Arienne had vaguely told him that her family owned a fairly successful company, after he had demanded to know her background after being dragged to high-class restaurants every day of the past week. To be honest, I don't eat out nearly that often. I'm mainly using him as an excuse…but I've been getting a lot of exercise lately, so there's no need to worry. Arienne suspected that he wasn't as out of his depth as he had claimed, anyways; he had suspiciously known the good dishes at most of the nicer places they had visited, and had near perfect etiquette.

"Alright, are both of you ready to go? Then let's head out!" Lewis put the vehicle into drive, and pulled out of the university grounds.

—

They were passing over the Skyarrow Bridge. Ducklet, Swanna, Pidove and Tranquill flew around the pillars of the majestic bridge, which was one of the Five Great Bridges of Unova. Kibe gazed out the window at Skywheel, the Castelia City suburb that had been built and expanded rapidly over the past ten years. It was both the reason for their expedition as well as Kibe's second home after Jubilife City in the Sinnoh region. Naturally, there had been lots of foot traffic in the city, making it hard to get through. But it was still early morning by the time they crossed the bridge.

"So, you guys remember the initial plan? Arienne, repeat it to me." Lewis glanced at Arienne, who was in the backseat with Audino.

"Alright…First, we're going to make our way north, doing a sweep of the transitory area between the Outer and Inner Forests. Then, by evening, we're aiming to reach a small lake near the mountains to set up base at. We'll set up PokeRadar devices around the perimeter, to alert us if a powerful Pokemon is about to stumble upon our camp so we can prepare ourselves. Once we're situated, the next day, we'll start our full survey of the Inner Forest."

Lewis nodded. "Precisely right. It'll be pretty extensive work, but once you set up your base, you should be fine for a few days."

The highway ended here, and Lewis turned left to the Pinwheel Forest proper. A dirt road running through the forest was all they had now. This was the Outer Forest; the trees were spaced pretty far apart, with clear visibility. The morning sunlight was dappled through the shadows of the summer trees. Many Bug, Normal, and Flying type Pokemon could be seen roaming through the forest; their cries were omitted by the chugging of the vehicle's engine. Kibe and Arienne were talking about the species they saw; apparently, most of them weren't seen in the Inner Forest.

Soon enough, they arrived at the rendezvous point. A small site was cleared out; it had been the Association team's base of operations. They were a team of a dozen experts; they were far more capable than a couple of college students. Although, this was just part of the training for the pair. Evidently this was a fairly low priority job if it was being outsourced to them, and as long as you had some outdoors experience it shouldn't be much of an issue.

The vehicle came to a stop. The three of them exited the car, and walked around to the back. Lewis helped unload their gear: three hiking backpacks, two duffel bags, and a smaller satellite phone pack. Kibe and Arienne each shouldered a backpack, and Audino put on the satellite phone pack.

"Let's do this, Garchomp." Kibe sent out his partner from his Poke Ball. The Mach Pokemon was already equipped with a harness for carying multiple packs; Kibe hooked up the last of the backpacks, and both duffel packs. Today, Garchomp was alert.

"All right, you two. If everything goes according to plan, you should be back here at the end of the day, two days from now. We'll be checking in nightly through the satellite phone from the lab. Good luck!"

Lewis shook Kibe and Arienne's hands, and Audino gave Zangoose a high five. The Trainer and his partner got back into the vehicle and drove off. Kibe and Arienne watched them go, and then turned towards the forest.

"Shall we?"

—

They were just approaching the border of the Inner Forest now. The forest floor was still pretty open; Pokemon could be seen in branches, hollows, and underbrush all around them. Greenery was everywhere. There was a slight incline as they approached the mountains; Arienne was completely winded at this point. They had been hiking for about three hours. She looked up: about ten yards ahead of her, Kibe was striding through the forest, keeping a lookout for Pokemon that were out of place in the Outer Forest. She didn't know how he did it; each backpack they were carrying was roughly 20 pounds, and she already felt like dying. She had been doing some endurance training over the past couple of months, but it clearly hadn't helped. Garchomp had kept pace with her, trailing behind the pair in front.

Kibe came to a stop, and looked around.

"I think we've arrived. Let's take a break. You OK?"

"I'm…I'm fine." Arienne dropped her pack and bent over, staring at the dirt. A Sewaddle came up next to her foot. Audino walked over to her and extended her hand, and a soothing feeling washed over Arienne. Her breathing stabilized, and she was able to look up at Audino and smile.

"Thanks, Audino. That really helped." Arienne straightened up and looked at Kibe, and the forest beyond. Kibe had also taken off his backpack, and was drinking from a canteen.

"So, you think this is the boundary?" Arienne peered into the Inner Forest; it was just a short distance away, but it seemed like almost a completely different world. The trees were actually closer together, despite being larger, and their branches intertwined with each other. Contrary to what one would expect, there was still a dense underbrush, despite the gloom on the foredt floor. It was a veritable jungle, despite the temperate environment. The reasoning for this was heavy rainfall in the region; it was the wettest area in Unova. However, Arienne felt like it was more than just that. It feel almost alien, or maybe…mystical…

"Strange, isn't it? Before I went to university, I would

actually come out to this area occasionally. But I could never work up the nerve to go in on foot."

"Wait, you, the guy who would take a Hydro Cannon to the face nonchalantly, were scared of this?"

"Hey, it wasn't the Hydro Cannon that I was planning on taking…but anyways, people fear the unnatural. I'm not any different from them. Just by the Pokemon we saw earlier, I can definitely tell that there's been a significant change. It seems like most of the more territorial species like Scolipede have left. My guess is that they tried to retreat into the Inner Forest, but were pushed out by the stronger Pokemon inside."

"We did see Venipede on our way here, but I guess that's pretty significant. I'll note that down." On Arienne's wrist was a special device that functioned as a notepad, GPS, and alarm. It had a screen the rough size of a smartphone, and was produced by the Gearframe Corporation, the company behind the revolutionary C-Gear, and also the arrangement and organization of the Unova Pokedex, in a joint function with the Association. She popped out a stylus and noted "Outer Forest devoid of territorial species". Kibe looked back at her.

"From here on, we'll need to stay closer to each other, so I'll match your pace. We are about halfway there, but it'll probably take us twice as long. Should we eat lunch now?"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I doubt we're going to find another open space until we reach that lake."

"Got it." With that decided, they set out a small foldable table they had brought, along with some regular packaged food that could be eaten cold: some Magikarp sandwiches that Arienne's made, Lyanna, had prepared. However, she wasn't about to tell Kibe about her, and give him more reason for her to think she was some dainty rich girl. So she told him that she made them.

"I really appreciate it. It's quite well made…" Kibe eyed her for a moment, and then seemingly decided to not press the issue. Arienne really liked his tactfulness. They ate silently for a while, with Audino and Garchomp eating some Pokemon food beside them. Arienne pulled out a shielded laptop and set it on the table. Over the past three hours, she had been collecting some footage using a camera that was connected with the wristpad. She was transferring the collected data and annotations onto her laptop, both for redundancy's sake and so that she could view the previous data she had downloaded and compare them.

"It seems like you're right…Pokemon in general seem to be moving closer to the Inner Forest, but strong species who used to live in the Outer Forest are nowhere to be found. There's only so much room in the Inner Forest though, so even the weaker Pokemon who don't compete with the stronger ones for territory will eventually have nowhere to go. If the forest continues to be reduced in size, the vast populations of Pokemon which live here will have to migrate. Maybe they'll have to somehow cross the mountains and head to the White Forest…"

Kibe sighed and put down his sandwich. "That won't solve the problem. Yes, the White Forest is another place where most of the Pokemon could potentially live, but it has an entirely different ecology from the Pinwheel Forest. It's drier, more temperate, and already has an entire ecosystem of Pokemon living there. It's also an internationally recognized preserve. The Pinwheel Pokemon would likely be labeled as invasive species by the Association, and forced out."

"Would they seriously do that, after approving the Skywheel Project? They're the ones who caused this problem!" Arienne was indignant at the audacity of the powers that be. "And where would they even go?"

"They would have to be relocated to another region, in all likelihood. The only places I could really think of that could fit would be either the Hoenn or Oblivia regions…But that would require a massive amount of money. And for all the grandstanding they do, the Association isn't a perfect, or even well-intended, organization. They give out permits for developing land in exchange for donations all the time. It's just the way the world works." Kibe picked up his sandwich again. It seemed that was as far as he was willing to go.

"Ugh…" Arienne closed her laptop and focused on her food again. She felt rather frustrated; was there really nothing they could do? Kibe finished his sandwich and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"But you should realize that's the entire point of this research. We need to find demonstrable and quantifiable proof that this development isn't sustainable, and is actively harming the ecosystem. Honestly, we're rather lucky this came to us. I bet the Association's team would've softballed it, and nothing would've changed. This is our chance to stick it to them and make sure that Skywheel is stymied, or at least developed in an environmentally sustainable way. The protection and preservation of the ecosystem is our ultimate goal here as biologists."

She could tell he was trying to cheer her up, and decided to look the part. "Thanks, Kibe." She smiled at him. It wasn't an entire lie; her spirits were lifted to some extent. But she knew all too well of the inexorable will and resources of large corporations like the real estate megafirm behind the Skywheel project, and that a paltry survey would do little to change things. Or…that's what she thought at the time.

—

"Garchomp, clear a path! Use Dragon Claw!" Kibe thought of himself as an outdoorsman, but he honestly was nearing his limit. They had been trekking through the dense Inner Forest for four hours, and they were barely halfway to the coordinates of the lake they were targeting. The foliage had grown so thick that he had been forced to ask Garchomp to cut apart a wall of greenery in front of him. Due to moving at a slower pace, he and the rich girl behind him were less physically tired than before, but they were both mentally exhausted. Arienne was still dutifully keeping up her data collection, however: she was recording footage with a body camera, and noting locations of species she and Kibe had spotted while he was clearing a safe path. She was directly behind him now, scribbling the coordinates of a hatchery of Rockruff on her wristpad.

"Rockruff, here? You normally don't see these in Unova at all…same with Sliggoo, Finizen, Charmander, and the others…this really is a completely different ecosystem.

"We haven't even reached the heart of the Inner Forest yet, I guarantee we'll see far rarer Pokemon before we're done here."

After Garchomp stepped back from the newly opened path, Kibe walked through, followed by Arienne and Audino. Garchomp, naturally, took the rear. He had had a commendable presence throughout the expedition: Garchomp was shouldering over 50 pounds of weight alone, staying on constant alert, and even clearing paths when necessary with zero complaints. Audino was also periodically healing Garchomp, which may have helped matters, but Garchomp's mental prowess was still formidable. Kibe couldn't be more proud.

A couple of hours later, the group encountered an impassable wall of green. Fortunately, it seemed to only extend to the east, and all they had to do was circle around the western side. The lake they were shooting for was directly west of this place anyways, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Both of them resolved to figure out whatever hidden location was to the east of there, though. At this point, they were adjacent to the mountains which were marked as the northern border of the Pinwheel Forest. They continued on.

—

"Wow!" Arienne exclaimed as they finally broke free of the forest tangle and emerged onto the shores of an expansive lake. The water was quite calm and clear; the surface glistened with the reflection of the sun. Dratini, Basculin, Tynamo, and Finneon were all visible in the lake, just from where they were standing. Several hundred yards down the shoreline, a herd of Sawsbuck and Deerling could be seen drinking. The sun was setting now; they had barely made it in time and had no time to relax just yet.

"Phew…alright then. Audino, gimme your pack." Kibe unloaded eight small PokeRadar devices from the technology package Audino had carried here. These were plantable stationary tools which could detect any Pokemon within a 300 yard radius. Kibe's plan was to use the lake as one wall, and set up a semicircle perimeter with these. If a particularly strong signature, which would be caused by either a large herd of Pokemon or a few singularly powerful ones, an alarm would sound on Arienne's wristpad and alert them. "Garchomp, I want you to stay here with them. Don't look at me like that, I'll be fine." Kibe sheepishly assuaged Garchomp's deadpan stare, and set off.

"Alright Audino, while he's off doing that, let's unpack and set up the tents! I guarantee he's expecting to set them up himself. Let me get those off of you, Garchomp!"

Re-energized from the beautiful sight of the lake at sunset, Arienne excitedly unloaded Garchomp's bags and took off his harness. She and Audino got to work setting up the tents, while Garchomp was in blissful pleasure from being freed, stretching out his back and rolling around on the grass like a newborn Pokemon. Arienne and Audino briefly stopped what they were doing when they saw the state Garchomp was in, and giggled to themselves. Eventually, Kibe came back to two tents pitched, a campfire set up with two chairs and the table, and Arienne already preparing dinner. Suffice it to say, he was shocked, and Arienne was immensely satisfied.

—

The dying coals of the campfire were flickering. Kibe and Arienne were lying down next to each other, with their Pokemon curled up at their feet. Vibrava was out, sleeping on Arienne's torso. It was far too warm to use a tent; they had both decided to use sleeping bags. The pair stared up at the beautiful, clear night sky.

"Say, Arienne. What do you think about that strange area we saw earlier? It was nearly impenetrable."

"Why are you asking me…? If I had to guess, I would say it's the dwelling of a powerful Pokemon; one strong enough to shape the environment around them. It must be trying to protect something; either itself, or something else. That's the only real explanation for something so unnatural."

"...In southeastern Unova, there was always legends told about a powerful Pokemon dwelling in the depths of the Pinwheel Forest. Naturally, many Trainers have attempted to find it, but very few ever make it this far; and the Inner Forest is a protected area by the Association ironically enough, so you need a permit to even catch Pokemon here. Despite that, no one has even caught a glimpse of it, much less caught it. However, I think you might be right on the money; there might even be other rare Pokemon in there, given the size of the area. We absolutely have to find a way in." Kibe reached up to the sky, and clenched a fist.

"Alright, sounds like a plan."

"...Man, what a beautiful night sky…it's been a while since I was actually able to camp outdoors. I think the last time for me was spring break. I had nearly forgotten what the stars looked like, what with all the light pollution in Castelia…"

Arienne glanced at him. "...To be honest, I never really got the whole sentimentality with the "great outdoors" thing. Today was absolutely miserable, my feet hurt, I had to use the bathroom outdoors, my stuff is dirty, and I'm completely spent. But…seeing this pristine, untainted lake with all of the Pokemon that call it home makes everything worth it."

"Glad to see you're coming around."

—

It was midnight in the Inner Forest. An electronic vehicle whirred through a tunnel burrowing under the northern mountains, emerging into the dense maze of flora. Eight men, clothed in camouflage, disembarked under the cover of night. Two of them, wearing special armbands, stepped off to the side. A burly man with a red armband spoke up first, holding up a tablet.

"It seems like we're not the only people here. Biometrics is picking up two humans and three Pokemon at the lake about 4 miles east of the target location. Trainers? Do they have registered permits?" A slim man wearing a blue armband responded.

"...Of all the times…I think I know who they are. They must be my work colleague's students. She was recently assigned to survey this area, and I had asked her to let me know in advance so "I could help her"...but that scatterbrained dolt probably just forgot because she was drunk at the time."

"Wait, a colleague? Does that mean that those two are in?"

"...She's not involved with OUR work. More the public facing side. I'm still expecting you to do what I hired you to."

"Of course. But what should we do about these two? Two of the Pokemon signatures are pretty weak, but it seems like they have a powerful Dragon-type in tow. That could be a problem."

"If they end up finding out, then we'll need to either evacuate or silence them. It'll depend on the current situation; if we haven't located the target yet, then we can just retreat and try again in a month or so. If we have, however, we will need to go all in. The absolute most important thing, for both your best interests and mine, is to not be discovered. I guarantee those two are wearing body cameras to record Pokemon."

The man with the red band lit a cigar. "Got it. We won't need a redo; we intend to work for the vast sum you paid upfront. Let's poach this legendary Pokemon."