June 26th, First Year
Thick snow crunched underfoot, paralleled with the tumultuous cries of wild Rufflets and Braviaries as they soared overhead. Summer had finally come to the great icy expanse of the icelands and Ingo had never been so enthusiastic about returning back to the shrouded station that the Almighty had dropped him into all those months ago. Things had certainly led him onto different tracks than the ones he had started upon.
Ingo took a careful step forward, holding out his arm for Irida to take as they walked along the edge of a stony cliffside. Beside them was a long, winding glacier glinting in the coming sunrise. Water roared through a hidden passage somewhere far beneath them, frost sticking to every leaf and branch in the forest.
Ingo was no longer the bedraggled, lost man that he had been over a year ago when he had first fallen into this place. No. Now, he moved with a purpose, relishing the cold wind on his face as he led at a brisk pace, checking for markers in the trail. He paused when he sighted a cairn of speckled stones before them, a ripped apart banner fluttering in the wind. Still on the right track.
"Almighty Sinnoh really sent you out into the frozen wastes for a mission?" Irida queried aloud, taking care not to slip off of the icy edge. She pulled close the edges of her pale kimono, affixing the glittering bangles around her wrists and throat as she stared solemnly at the foggy path ahead."Remind me again what they sent you out here for."
"An item of some sort. I believe it was called a Lustrous Orb. I do not know its purpose, but it seems the Almighty is determined for me to obtain it."
Things had been busy since Ingo had run into that strange Zoroark back at the Pearl Clan Settlement the day before. Ingo had ensured that the foul creature wouldn't be playing savage tricks on the rest of his passengers, lest it lead astray other pokémon such as the Mandibuzz Jaku had lent him. Guilt tugged at his ribs, reminding him that he had allowed the derailment of one of his passengers due to his own mistrust and misconstruing of the situation. Looking back at it now, the whole situation reeked of foul play.
Ingo could still smell the foul odor of charred flesh. He could still envision the way the black Zoroark had called out for the Mandibuzz to come to its aid. To get it to safety. What a horrible thing. He had reported the mishap to Irida who had been relieved at the prospect that Ingo had afflicted the creature with a mortal wound; it wouldn't survive after dusk. And if Mandibuzz was with it, neither would it. Dying Zoroarks only attracted more like carrion did flies. It was necessary, Ingo reassured himself, regarding the leaden weight in his gut as nothing but savage satisfaction. Even if Chandelure had refused his commands afterwards. Even if his first pokémon ever wouldn't so much as look at him anymore. The Zoroark would've gone on to hurt another passenger if I hadn't decommissioned it permanently. All is well.
"We are approaching our destination," Ingo rumbled after a few moments, letting his calloused hands brush lightly across the splintered bark of the pine and fir trees before him.
Irida balked. The clan leader stared expectantly at the darkening shadows of the pine trees, setting her feet down heavily in the thick powder snow. "I didn't think we'd be going this deep into the Lost Wilderness Woods." At Ingo's side, Irida pulled out a weathered canvas map, her finger sliding around the perimeter of the Acuity River before stopping on the western bank. "How do you know where we're supposed to look?"
Ingo tapped the bright screen of his Xtransceiver again, a smooth star-like symbol blinking to denote his goal a little ways north. He carefully moved to show Irida the contraption. "This signal here- on the screen- like glass but thicker. I have followed these markings before, and they have led me to find the Old Verses during my travels. All we must do is approach the signal as closely as possible and then start combing the area."
Irida immediately began to scowl, her gaze sharpening as she hastily put away her map, instead reaching for the smoke ball at her obi. "Ingo, these woods are infested with Zoroarks. You mean to tell me that Almighty Sinnoh is actively throwing caution to the wind by asking you to enter such a dangerous space?" The venomous disbelief in Irida's voice was almost palpable, so much so that Ingo likened it to the feeling of sharp Sneasel teeth in his wrist.
"…They are," Ingo alluded, "But not to worry." He took hold of the robe belt around his waist rolling one dented pokéball into his awaiting palm. "I will deal with those interlopers if and when they appear to us. You have nothing to fear, my lady."
"Hmm, very well. But don't expect myself or Glaceon to not pitch in. We're here to assist you, too. I may not be leading this expedition, but I'll do as much as I can to ensure that you can fulfill Almighty Sinnoh's plans unscathed." She then turned her glare full of ire and focused it upon him, forced to cran her neck to meet his gaze. "You have a bad habit of getting injured on other people's behalf, warden."
Ingo rubbed at his neck, his face growing warm from the less than fortunate memories of his start in Hisui. "This is not similar to the expedition into Avalanche Slopes. I assure you, my cab is in optimal condition and I know the tracks before me. I have full confidence in my ability to conduct us both to our destination."
"I'm not saying you don't," Irida assured him. "I'm not here to babysit you, you know. I'm just looking out for a fellow clanmate in this dangerous situation. I won't even let a group of less than five rangers leave camp. What makes you think I'd willingly let you go alone? What kind of leader would that make me?"
"Ah, but you are an exceptional leader!" Ingo replied cheerfully. He took a much larger step down the snowy slope, holding aside a needle-laden branch for Irida to slip past him. "Now come. We have much to do if we wish to recover the Lustrous Orb."
The two carefully entered the dark woods, layers of packed snow and frozen undergrowth crunching loudly underfoot. There, the trees forked into the skies, their branches ladled with dark, long needles blotting out what little weak sunlight came to the icelands. The steam of their breaths billowed behind them in long-standing clouds, frost beginning to form at the edges of their clothing.
"Coach," Ingo muttered. With a flash, the large Machamp has exited its pokéball, looming behind Ingo like an impassable wall of flesh. "Please guard the rear. Perform the signal if you sense danger."
"Champ!"
"I'll do the same." Irida grunted. "Glaceon, help us sense the way ahead."
"Mmrr?" Emerging from a pile of powder snow, Irida's Glaceon shook itself out and leapt ahead of the group, its long crystalline tail whispering over the untouched frost.
"Think we're covered enough, Ingo?"
"Amongst Zoroarks? Never quite. There will never be a number of safety checks one could perform to avoid those capricious creatures. Now then. Let us depart."
Unknown Day, First Year
Days had passed. Ingo and Irida had both counted the rise and setting of the sun and moon countless times until the growing shadows on the forest floor had wiped away any sense of time from them both. They had crawled through the forest, so far that their surroundings were unlike the icelands both of them had grown accustomed to.
The pine and fir trees grew boundless toward the skies, their canopies invisible and all-consuming as the endless needled branches prevented barely any light from getting through; so much so that Ingo had felt the need to release Chandelure from her pokéball to light the way forward. Crystallized rocks grew like stalagmites on trees, thick patches of ice covering the trunks and roots of the trees like a second skin. Berry bushes larger than boulders sprung up from the ground, their forms leaving dense pitch-black shadows for the two pokémon wielders to stare into nervously as they passed them by.
Strange pokémon, none that Ingo had ever remembered seeing before, appeared from the shadowy depths, their eyes cloudy as they stepped forward, always ready to battle. And they were strange pokémon that Ingo battled. Names rattled off the back of his head after each victory- Shiftry, Hariyama, Medicham, Tyrouge, Hitmontop, Spinda- the list went on. And when each pokémon fell, they turned into snowflakes becoming indiscernible from the layers upon layers of snow surrounding the two wielders like an impenetrable blanket.
At some harrowing points, multiple pokémon would drop down from seemingly nowhere and the usual pace of back-and-forth battle that Ingo was familiar with would turn into a violent and unpredictable free-for-fall. Moves that he knew like Blizzard, Ominous Wind, and Discharge sparked a carnal fear in him like never before the moment he saw an enemy pokémon preparing the move; they hit every pokémon on the battlefield with almost guaranteed accuracy and more times than not, they would inflict severe wounds on his teams.
And move, the strange pokémon did. In regular battles- or at least, in the ones that Ingo knew- trainers would take turns calling commands. No such rule took place in the dungeon he and Irida crawled through. Letting an opponent raise their speed meant potentially losing the ability to run away or fairly fight back. He had witnessed this abject abuse of speed earlier on and the empty weight in his satchel where his revives should have been burned with from the shreds of confidence Ingo had lost. He wasn't all too certain about the tracks he was leading Irida on. All he could do was hold his end and hope they could make it to their final destination: the orb.
Irida and her Glaceon could just barely keep up, both of the pokémon wielders and their partners sustaining deep injuries as they forged a way through the lost wilderness. There had been only a handful of berries that Ingo could recognize but the other items they ran into- strange glass crystals, colorful cloths, small speckled seeds- none of them, they recognized and none of them, Irida was too lax to use. The two panted and gasped as they pulled themselves up a rock face narrowing avoiding a stray Flamethrower from an angered Magmar.
Neither he nor Irida had ever known there to be steep ravines or gulches within the Alabaster Icelands but as they found themselves crawling through their second sand-covered cave, Ingo took a moment and called for a break, finding a relatively safe space under the roots of a large, dead treat where he could check his wounds and heal his pokémon.
"Lady Irida, do you still have that map on you?" Ingo breathed.
"I do." Irida carefully found her place on the sandy, pebble-strewn floor, the bags under her eyes pronounced as she unfolded her slightly-scorched map, her fingers shaking. "I just- this doesn't make sense, Ingo! We've been in these woods for days! These woods- we're supposed to be near the hot springs." She gestured as the layered rock walls around them, groaning as a hot breeze rolled into the clearing, forcing her to delicately remove her kimono down to her first layer. Her Glaceon wandered over and flopped directly into its trainer's lap, panting. "It's far too hot here! Are we even in the icelands anymore?"
"I am unsure. I have continued marking the trees," Ingo cut in before Irida could reach a particular destination, one that made Ingo itch when he considered it. "We have not turned ourselves in circles yet." He checked his Xtransciever, finding that his marker- the one that pointed out where he was- had not moved an inch since he and Irida had entered these warped forests.
"Ingo, we can't stay here for much longer," Irida reasoned, reaching into her bag for a squashed oran berry. "We're starting to run out of food. I only packed enough rations to last me a week and with all these hostile pokémon, I'm starting to wonder if our partners can hold up for much longer."
Ingo nodded. "I also did not anticipate the level of difficulty we have been facing since we arrived at this station. But. I am certain we have almost reached our destination."
"What makes you think that?"
Ingo hummed, reaching into his satchel for a glass bottle containing an elixir. He uncorked the concoction, allowing Freight to grab the bottle in its pincers and down it whole. "I am unsure why. Perhaps it is just a feeling? But we stand at a crossroads, my lady." Ingo marked a large line in the sand with his shoe, snapping off a branch from a tree to use. "Either we continue and find the Lustrous Orb-" he stabbed the branch into the sand on the opposite side of the line- "or we attempt to retreat and return back to the Pearl Clan which is not guaranteed to succeed." Ingo then stabbed the branch into his side of the sand. He scowled. "We have come to these tracks unprepared. As I see it, we should keep progressing."
"Because there's no telling what will happen to us if we try to turn back," Irida finished, frowning. "Well isn't that just swell?" She kicked her feet, staring at the walls of the stone hollow around them. "Fine. Let's keep moving after we get our partners back up to speed. Do you have any more oran berries?"
Ingo shook his head. "No. I used the last of mine on Freight. But perhaps," he continued, his gaze moving to the supernaturally large ferns and leaves that hung over the stone hollow, "we could try pulling those large berries off of their bushes. They heal pokémon more sufficiently than ourselves."
"But that's- it's just- augh!" Irida threw down the map and clutched her head in her hands, her bangles jangling noisily as she glared at the growing shadows in the woods across from her. She then immediately perked up. "Zoroarks!"
Ingo immediately got to his feet, the ball containing Freight getting squished in the pressure of his hold. "Where?" he growled.
Irida immediately backtracked. "No, no, no! There's not- there's no Zoroarks around us. I think this is one big illusion! Think about it! The fact that you considered pulling boulder-sized berries off of a bush the size of a tent is just outlandish! I've walked through these woods as a little girl and not once have I nor anybody in the Pearl Clan ever seen anything like this."
"An illusion," Ingo mused. He had an idea. He quickly switched out Freight's pokéball for another one of his beloved companion's. "Parlor, to the platform! Safeguard, if you please!"
Parlor the Alakazam floated upward, releasing a tangible wave of psychic energy as reality around them rippled like waves in a disturbed pond. The large fir trees wavered, twisting and snaking back toward the ground until they more closely resembled the maze-like trees of the Crimson Mirelands. The forest floor underfoot was now barren of undergrowth, a sickly reddish hue shining in from an indistinguishable point overhead. The temperature began to slowly increase, and from behind him, Irida jumped as a pokémon cried out in the distance.
"I was right, but- we're still in an illusion!"
"Ka-zam!" Again, Parlor released another wave of psychic energy.
The crimson woods now warped into one where the pine trees were laden with luminescent crystals reflecting weak sunlight in all spectrums of color. Soft green grass grew underfoot, patches of wildflowers fanning over the edges of the gorge as they bloomed. Fish pokémon of all kinds filtered into the jagged channel, the water around them clear enough to see to the very bottom.
And there, Ingo saw it. Deep within the glowing water- too deep for him to swim to- was a pocket of glowing soft-pink water. Something twisted in the depths, a slow but steady rumble like thunder chasing after lightning filling his ears as he looked onward. His throat burned. His hands trembled. There, at the bottom of the pool was a marble pedestal wrapped in seagrass and drowned ivy. Floating on the dais of the pedestal surrounded by a swirling miasma of colorful fish pokémon was a large crystalline orb composed of more gems than Ingo had ever seen in his entire life. The current turned the orb this way and that, casting colorful lights onto the forest that sparkled on the hem of Ingo's coat sleeves and Irida's kimono.
"The Lustrous Orb," Ingo rasped, drawing closer. He straightened up. "I will go and obtain it. Please remain safely behind the yellow line while I do so, Lady Irida."
"You don't think it's a trap, do you?" Irida warned aloud as Ingo made his way to the ravine's edge.
"I don't think so," Ingo answered truthfully. He felt surrounded by a searing hot calmness, his skin tingling as he carefully moved into the water. He shed his battered coat and hat before handing them off to Irida. "Please take care of these objects for me."
"I will. But if you're not back in three minutes, I'm diving in after you."
"Of course." Then, with a gasping breath, Ingo dove into the pool, the tingling growing more and more intense as he swam toward the bottom. The water was scalding hot, reminding him more of the hot springs than a river delta as he sunk lower into the depths. There, the gentle current nestled around him, carrying toward the spinning orb until it was firmly within his hands.
Light flashed behind his eyes and all at once, the shining waters around him faded, replaced by the wild marshes of the mirelands. Strong sunlight filtered into the outer boundaries of the Diamond Heath, tall grass wavering in the breeze. Another illusion, Ingo thought. He silenced that thought when the hot water of the pool dried completely from his clothes, instead feeling the sticky humidity of the mirelands gathering on his exposed brow.
"What do you think?" came a tired voice.
Ingo paused. I know that voice. He moved closer, sighting his fellow faller outlined in a beam of bloody orange sunlight.
Jaku was slouched forward, her shadowed eyes dull with exhaustion as she stared up at something, her expression reflecting misery and distrust. Her exposed arms were littered with cuts and bruises and what little hair poked out from her headscarf was bedraggled and dull. "I just- I wanted to tell you, Ingo. I wanted to tell Akari too. I can't find her, but I'm sure she would want to know."
She's talking to me…? Ingo crept closer, concealing himself behind a clump of heather as he peered into the clearing. His silver eyes widened. There, only a few paces away from him stood… himself. That had happened almost a week prior when he had flown into the mirelands looking for the strange Zoroark that had been tailing his fellow faller.
"I can sense that you are deeply disturbed by whatever it is you wish to tell me," Ingo's past self murmured. "What is it? And why would Young Akari want to know?"
"I… Almighty- no, Dialga. Dialga, the Temporal pokémon- they gave me the ability to travel through time." Jaku stared at her own hands which were stained with red earth and sticky with blood. She took a deep breath. "I've figured it out. I know why we're here, Ingo. Why we're all here."
Ingo felt his chest tighten as he stumbled out of the brush, unable to eavesdrop any longer. The two didn't even seem to notice him. Ingo watched as his doppelganger took hold of their hat, their eyes scrunched with confusion. The real Ingo listened in with rapt interest, pausing as Jaku's look of misery worsened.
"Why?" Ingo's doppelganger questioned. "Why are we all here?"
"To fix something. Something has altered the natural flow in Hisui and we were sent to figure out what and right things the way they were before we fell. I'm sure you've figured out your purpose, what with those things that your god has you collecting. Old Verses, weren't they?"
"That's correct…" Ingo's doppelganger muttered. "Though, I don't believe I ever told you about them. How did you-"
"Find out?" Jaku took hold of a necklace attached to her satchel, revealing a large gear-shaped pendant with a strange stone backing. "This," she muttered, her lip curled with disgust- "this object, the boon that Dialga granted me- it allows me to travel back through time. To fix things that shouldn't have happened. That's how I know about your verses. I've seen you carrying them to Jubilife." Jaku's eyes narrowed. "I know you can fast travel with them too."
"You… what? Fast travel?" Ingo's doppelganger ran his fingers through his hair. "You traveled back in time? How long? How long have you been doing this for?"
Jaku sighed, her fingers twitching at her sides as she stared evenly at her own growing shadow. She hunched forward, the heat in her gaze cooling until all Ingo could see was his own defeated expression staring straight back at him. "Too long," is what Jaku eventually muttered. "I stopped keeping track a while ago." In a much quieter tone, Jaku continued. "Do you know how many things go wrong? How many times I've had to go back and fix something that becomes a problem in the future?… Do you know how many times I've had to live the same day over and over again?" She then met the doppelganger's confused gaze, grimacing. "And again, you won't remember this. You know what? Why am I even wasting my time with you? You'll just forget all about it the moment I'm done talking."
Ingo watched as, like Jaku had predicted, an eerie fog washed over the doppelganger's eyes. A moment passed. Ingo's doppelganger shook themselves out, their expression similar to the one they had been wearing before Jaku had ever started talking. Curiosity. Ease. Eagerness. A horrible pit of nausea began to gnaw at Ingo's stomach.
"…I'm sorry," Ingo's doppelganger eventually replied, its tone even and calming. "I didn't quite hear what you said, Miss Jaku. Would you mind telling me again?" And in the way the past version of Ingo waited patiently, Ingo knew that it hadn't been a farce. Even he hadn't remembered this conversation, something that he absolutely would've taken notice of.
Jaku only stared back at the clone before fixing Ingo's doppelganger with a fake smile that didn't so much as reach her eyes. She chuckled spryly, waving off his past self as she began to motion him back to the camp walls. "Don't even worry about it, Ingo. I'll tell you some other time."
It was like being dunked in ice-cold water. Ingo was suddenly thrown back into the present, still floating in the crystal-clear waters with his hands clenched around the Lustrous Orb.
'He's drowning down there, I just know it!'
Ingo blinked, confused. He looked around. Did Lady Irida follow me into the water? How long have I been floating here? He quickly resurfaced, keeping his hands firmly around the orb as he began to tread water.
'Oh, thank Almighty Sinnoh! There he is! He's okay!'
"Ingo! There you are!" Irida ran to help him clamber out of the water, her eyes catching on the orb as Ingo tried and failed to pull himself out of the pool. "So that's the Lustrous Orb," Irida breathed. "The artifact of a god. It's- just- wow."
'So pretty. I can't believe I'm even getting to look at an artifact of Almighty Sinnoh!'
Ingo blinked once and then twice. Irida wasn't speaking and yet he could hear her voice so clearly in his head. The voice continued to ponder the orb. Ingo realized the truth and then carefully put the orb in his pack. He was hearing Irida's thoughts. The moment the orb settled in his pack, Irida's speculative voice faded entirely leaving Ingo a rare silence he wasn't used to having.
Ingo took a deep calming breath, separating himself from Lady Irida as he laid against the firm stone wall of the gorge. He still had that terrible dream in his thoughts. Touching the orb- has it restored some of my memories? He held the orb again but grunted when all he heard was Irida's thoughts in the background. He took his fingers off of the gleaming surface.
Miss Jaku was hiding something. When had that memory happened? And why couldn't he remember it in the first place? She spoke about correcting things that had happened in the past and about watching him entering Jubilife. Had she been spying on him? On Akari, as well? Ingo got to his feet, sweeping dust off of his jacket. "I sense that we have finished up here. Let us return back to our home station before we become derailed even further."
"I agree with you there. Let's get going. The sooner, the better."
June 27th, First Year
The trip out of the lost wilderness was much easier than the trip going in. Within the same day, both leader and warden were walking out of the snow-laden woods, the sun high in the sky as they stared at the barren expanse of the icelands. They ventured back to the Pearl Clan Settlement, both shocked to find out that barely any time had passed at all since they had been away. To the Pearl Clan scouts, the two had only been missing for a day. Ingo hastily grabbed his things as he bid Irida farewell and moved out to the eastern woods where he was sure nobody would see him.
Jaku had mentioned something about 'fast travel' and about being able to do so with the Old Verses. He had an inkling that he was being foolish, but he needed to speak with his fellow faller immediately. He took out a dirt-specked verse from his pack, holding the box within his hands. He needed to travel to the mountains north of the Crimson Mirelands. He knew that Jaku had been stationed there recently; he had heard Clan Leader Adaman mention it in passing the last time he had paid a visit to the Diamond Settlement.
Almost immediately, reality began to shift and warp around him, a stinging pain shooting up his arms and legs as he sank to his knees in the snow. The familiar snow-covered icelands slowly morphed into capes of jagged rock, clouds swirling overhead as a scraggly tree tipped his way. The air grew warmer around him. Ingo stood.
He was in a small clearing ringed with sparse trees, a large partially hidden cave only a few paces away with a mess of stones and lopped-off branches obscuring the entrance. Without a sound, Ingo swapped the Old Verse in his hand for the Lustrous Orb, encasing the object in his hands.
'I can only wait here for so long,' came the quiet rumble of Jaku's thoughts. 'I have to go and claim the first gear sooner or later. Besides, nobody will even notice if I go missing or not. They haven't noticed before.'
Swallowing, Ingo shrunk back. He would need to approach his fellow faller at a different time. Especially if they might be anticipating him.