*sprints into the room once again*

HI OK I'M BACK AND I HAVE A WEEK BEFORE MIDTERMS LET'S DO THIS

"Where are you off to?" Thomas asked me.

It was the day after the Valor Resort Tournament, and trainers were heading out. As for the aggron in the room: I'd been keeping watch over Thomas since yesterday afternoon, and he seemed genuinely unaffected by April's surprise appearance. Which didn't seem right – I mean, he'd lost the battle almost immediately after seeing her – but if he was doing well, then I couldn't complain.

"I'm going home for a bit," I said. "Megan's birthday is this week. I'm gonna get some training in at home."

"Where are you from, again?"

"Twinleaf."

"Twinleaf…" He blinked. "Oh. Southwest Sinnoh?"

"Yep. About as south and west as you can get."

"Isn't it a bit far?"

I shrugged. "I did it last time around. Plus Def can teleport."

"Ah, okay. Do you mind if I join you?"

"That's fine. Def can only teleport one person at a time, though, and he'll need to rest between jumps –"

"Oh, I can fly on Silver," Thomas said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I haven't in a while."

Definite let himself out of his pokeball. "Okay then," I said, taking Def's hand. "See you in Twinleaf?"

"See you in Twinleaf."

A swoop and a second later, Def and I landed in Twinleaf. "How was that?" I asked him.

"Not bad," he said, looking marginally less gray than last time.

I looked around the spot we'd landed and smiled. Megan had acquainted him with my room.

"Mom, I'm home," I called down, retrieving Def and heading downstairs.

Monday, November 8th. I met up with Megan and Tricia for dinner. My stomach was tight as I worried about how I'd react to seeing Megan again. It felt like I was about to give a presentation I wasn't ready for.

When I saw her I… felt… nothing…? Well, not nothing. But it was less seeing-the-girl-you-like and more seeing my best friend again. Similar to what I felt towards Tricia. The tension in my chest lightened a little.

Tuesday, November 9th. I went to train at Lake Verity. Megan and Tricia came along with me after school just to hang out while I was in town. It was loads of fun. Tricia loved Hope, which was the least surprising thing I'd experienced this month. I let them play while I worked with Def and Prom. The plan was to battle Crasher Wake soon after Megan's birthday, sometime early next week.

In other news, I checked Looker's diary. The coming Monday was the day Galactic tested their bomb at the Great Marsh. Obviously things would be different, as much of Galactic's energy had been taken in Eterna early on. But it was a friendly-ominous reminder of what could happen soon.

All day I was conscious of how I was feeling around Megan – things were pleasantly normal. I started worrying less about falling for her, because being around her was nothing like being around Lucas or boys I'd liked in the past.

Thomas arrived in Twinleaf that night. We didn't see each other much, as he was staying at the Pokemon Center across town. This was fine by me – this week was for my friends from home.

…okay. I lied. Wednesday morning was for another purpose.

Wednesday, November 10th. Looker and I teleported to Eterna City to meet with Cynthia. He came to Twinleaf to give me a natu (so that Def could more easily teleport me back), then teleported out. I followed him a second later.

When I arrived behind the Pokemon Center in Eterna, Looker was frowning. "What took so long?" he asked.

I laughed at the joke. Then I realized he wasn't joking. "I left right after you," I said.

"That was almost five minutes ago."

"That was… ten seconds ago?"

We stood staring at each other, trying to figure out how the misalignment in perception happened.

"Ah, hello! You must be Looker and Evelyn."

I looked towards the voice. The Sinnoh League Champion was striding towards us, smiling. I'd never seen her in person before – I'd never realized how tall she was.

"Yes indeed. And of course, you're Cynthia," Looker said. I was too starstruck by the top trainer in Sinnoh talking to us to get words together.

"How did you know?" She grinned. "Let's go back to my place and chat."

Cynthia's place was just an apartment on the edge of the city. Which I suppose makes sense for someone who'd want to lie low, and whom I believe lives in multiple cities. Inside, the apartment was a mix of practical furniture, cardboard boxes, and Sinnoh mythology-themed wall hangings. I recognized the one covering the wall behind a sofa: three points of light, blue, pink, and yellow, and a white light in the center.

"Can't forget my Celestic Town heritage," Cynthia commented, noticing me. "As if I ever could. It's shaped my entire career. Tea? Coffee?"

I opted for tea, Looker went with black coffee, and Cynthia debated between the two for a bit before pouring herself a teacup of each. "So," she said, sinking into an armchair by the sofa Looker and I were sitting on. "I hear you spoke with my grandmother?"

"We did. She informed us that we should speak to you, rather than her, about the mythological aspects of things," Looker said.

"Sounds about right. What's first?"

"Well… How exactly does one summon the Lake Trio?" Looker asked.

Cynthia gave him a puzzled look. "What's this about?"

"Hypotheticals."

I glanced at Looker. He was definitely trying to keep her out of it still.

"Physically?"

"…sorry?"

"There are a few ways they can be summoned," Cynthia explained. "Sometimes they appear in body, sometimes in spirit."

"Ah… The more ways we know about, the better," said Looker.

"All right. To summon them physically, one might cause a large disturbance in the lake. One appears to protect the lake; the others appear to protect their own and to assist the first."

"That's about what we thought," Looker said, nodding.

"Summoning them in spirit is much more difficult." Cynthia stirred her tea and took a sip. "The Lake Trio occasionally appears to lend or request help. Humans have been known to approach the lakes with their personal problems. For example, one might seek Mesprit for emotional support, Uxie for advice on important decisions, Azelf for the strength to carry on. In these cases, the guardian does not appear in image, but if the request is reasonable, they are said to grant it."

"Is it true?" Looker asked.

"I have yet to experience it myself, but I have no reason to doubt it. The Lake Trio also requests help from humans or pokemon sometimes. They pick out… I suppose the term would be soulmates? Though the concept of a soulmate varies widely. The image of the guardian appears to someone who exemplifies the embodied trait in some way, and they have a direct interaction. But this is extremely rare. The last time it happened was more than two centuries ago, when the industrial boom brought factories that polluted Lake Valor and Lake Verity."

Looker was a bit lost for words. I took over. "What sort of interaction?"

"The guardian sort of… Sort of speaks to the chosen soulmate, but not with words. Guides their thoughts, stirs memories, that sort of thing."

"What would the Lake Trio request help for, in general?"

"Generally, the protection of the lakes or the region."

"Is the protection of the entire world under their jurisdiction?"

"The Lake Trio is primarily focused on the Sinnoh region, so if something happening in Oblivia threatened the world, they might not go to help immediately. If it was happening in Sinnoh, though, then definitely. I imagine they'd even call three."

"Call three?"

"Three soulmates," Cynthia clarified. "Completing the trio. This would be for extreme circumstances."

"Does the partnership itself serve any function…?" I asked.

"The lake guardian can send their soulmates support in their area of specialty – emotion, knowledge, willpower. They are also connected on a not-quite psychic level – if something happens to the lake guardian, the soulmate becomes aware of it."

"Are the soulmates themselves connected in any way?" I asked. "Like would Uxie's soulmate be connected to Mesprit's?"

"That's hard to say. In the case of the polluted lakes, it was actually one professor in Snowpoint who became Uxie's soulmate to aid Valor and Verity. It was a knowledge-based problem. Multiple soulmates are extraordinarily rare – and I know I keep saying things are rare, but this one is compounded by the rarity of the Lake Trio having soulmates at all. I can't say for certain what their relation would be. Again, it's a matter of the whole world being at risk."

My mind was whirring. If Looker and I were both chosen already… Was there a third? Why didn't this happen last time? Or did it? Why differently? Did the Lake Trio know about Galactic? Why us?

Looker cleared his throat. "We've gone off track. We were also meaning to ask about the Spear Key."

"What do you know about it?"

"Just that it opens Spear Pillar."

"Okay. It's also like a… I want to say a metal detector, but for artifacts. It can be used to locate related objects."

"Such as the Orbs?"

"Yeah, like the Adamant, Lustrous, and Griseous Orbs. The Red Chain activates it."

Looker grimaced. This complicated things – if Galactic got ahold of the Key, the Orbs were no longer hidden. "Does anyone know where it is?"

"Not really. The texts describing its location are effectively a set of riddles, so it's a bit ambiguous. The consensus is that it's in a ruin somewhere in Sinnoh. The point where archaeologists agree ends there."

"Where do you think it is?" Looker asked her.

Cynthia hesitated. She picked up her coffee and took a sip. "The texts," she said, "go on a tangent with seemingly nothing to do with the Spear Key. Roughly translated, they say, 'By chance it is born, transcending emotion, strength, and knowledge while holding on to them tightly still. And with it – life is given purpose.'"

"What is it?"

Cynthia smiled. "That's all I can say."

"Could I write that down…?" Looker asked, pulling out a notepad.

Cynthia repeated it for him, and he wrote it in. "That's all the questions we had," he said, putting the notebook away. "I'll contact you if there's anything else."

"Of course." Cynthia said.

Looker and I got to our feet. Cynthia followed us to the door.

"Thanks for everything," I said.

"It's no problem," said Cynthia. "And…" She looked at Looker. "I realize the International Police has a certain amount of pride. But I am effectively the human in charge of protecting this region, and I can't imagine all of those questions were hypothetical."

Looker glanced away. "I'll… keep that in mind," he said.

"Just let me know if there's anything I can do," Cynthia said cheerfully.

"All right. Goodbye."

Looker and I headed down the steps inside the building. "So regarding the Trio," I said. "It's possible that there's a third soulmate, and they know of our existence but we don't know of theirs. I knew Uxie met you, but you didn't sense anything from me. It's also possible Mesprit hasn't picked a soulmate yet."

"Could be."

He seemed quiet. I was 94% sure he was still thinking about what Cynthia had said at the end.

"Looker, what's your job?" I asked him.

"My job?"

"Describe your occupation."

"I carry out the missions assigned by–"

"No, in a broader sense."

The confusion left his face. "Maintain peace in the world, I suppose."

"You have an important job. Uxie has chosen you for the same job you already had. I think you know what you need to do – it's your call whether you're going to let your company get in the way of your job."

I pulled out Def's pokeball and released him. "I'll see you later."

"See you."

Def took my hand, and in a moment we were in Twinleaf. I let down my guard and giggled.

"That dramatic-ass exit," I snickered.

Thursday, November 11th. School got out early. Megan was going to Sandgem for an early birthday celebration with her extended family, so Tricia and I took advantage of this to actually go shopping for a birthday gift (procrastination? What's that?).

One thing led to another (that is to say, we couldn't find anything good and we wound up near a craft store) and our shopping trip became a craft day at Tricia's house. Her parents and siblings were out. It was just us.

"Look at this," Tricia said. I looked up at the card. It was a set of paper layers – she pulled a tab and a stick figure slid across the card. Behind it trailed the word "WHEEEEEEEEEE!"

I laughed. "That's great."

I tied a knot in my stitching and cut the thread. There was something resting in the back of my head – I thought it was distant enough that I could ignore it, but it kept resurfacing.

"Hm… now what…" Tricia mused, looking down at the crafting supplies. I smiled. She didn't have a plan.

"How's your internship going?" I asked her, rethreading my needle.

"Pretty well. On Saturday Maya and I went to Lake Verity and checked out the wildlife there. We basically got to play with starlies."

"Maya?"

"I didn't tell you about Maya? She's an intern with me."

"Oh, okay."

Tricia giggled to herself. "We've been there almost ten times, and somehow she always ends up stepping in the water with her shoes on."

"Ah, man…"

We were quiet for a bit. And it was probably just because we were both focused on our work, but it gave me time to think.

She'd find out eventually… I'd tell her eventually, or she'd figure it out some other way. I was being weird about this.

"Tricia?"

Whoa. I did it.

"Hm?"

No stopping now. "There's… something I haven't told you."

Tricia looked up. I went on, "I… I told Megan already… a while ago. She sorta figured out that something didn't line up… And I should've told you… but… I time traveled."

She jumped a little. "You did?"

"Yeah. It – I know it's weird – I was working with this IP agent to stop Galactic from – oh, Galactic, Inc., like the electric company – we were trying to stop them from screwing with time and space and making a new world, and everything went badly, and we managed to travel back to September. From February."

"Ooh. Okay." Tricia leaned back. "That sounds really cool!"

"Oh. I guess so." I mean, aside from the darker details of Lucas being dead and me cutting everyone out of my life and Galactic winning… I did travel through time.

"Wait, so what's time travel like?"

"It… I saw a really bright light, and then I was in September."

"Ooh… How did you do it? Was it a pokemon?"

"No, the IP agent gave me a poketch app that would travel back one time.

"Ohh." Tricia nodded slowly. "Interesting. Are things better this time?"

I smiled. "I mean, it took me a while to adjust… but things are a lot better."

"Yay," she said, grinning.

We finished up our crafts around seven. I went home at nine. The moon was out already, and I breathed in the familiar air of my hometown.

Not holding secrets is a beautiful feeling.

Hopefully the mythology makes sense ugh. It's so hard to learn Sinnoh mythology when each piece of it is on a completely different page on Bulbapedia.

But anyways! Hope you enjoyed, see you after my hell midterms (3 of them within 4 hours lit lit)~