March 10th, First Year
The Sandgem Encampment seemed to writhe around them, clansmen hurrying to-and-fro with a sense of urgency that Akari had never seen while she was at work in Jubilife Village. Without a word, the people hurried from tent to tent, their boots sinking into the snow-soaked mud as the sun slowly rose above the crest of the mountains.
Akari, Rei, and Yuki huddled together amidst the muddy plaza of the tent-covered portion of the Sandgem Encampment. They had been waiting there since before dawn with the order to wait for further instructions. They weren't allowed to help in the preparations, and they certainly weren't allowed to leave the encampment as they were deemed to be far too young incapable of protecting themselves.
Kiran, the camp's nightwatch guard, sat poised on a barrel nearby, his narrowed eyes only ever darting away from them for merely a second. He'd been watching them like a hawk ever since they had arrived the day before and for good reason: with their pokémon, they stood out like sore thumbs and rumor had it that the clan was gossiping about their lack of control over them. Akari could hear the snippets of conversation mentioning how her and Rei's pokémon had been too cowardly to fight. That, and Rei's Pikachu had been kicking up a fuss since they had arrived, Rei being forced to conceal his partner within its pokéball.
The leader of the encampment, Leader Caru, had already sent off a message to the Fieldland Encampment and had said nothing else apart from giving them stern looks every now and then whenever he would converse with Kiran. Akari had a sinking feeling that the words they were sharing amongst one another were anything but positive.
"Pi?" Tot wormed his way out from inside Rei's tunic, nosing at his trainer's hand for berries and nibbling on his thumb when no berries were provided. Faint sparks jumped from the electric-mouse pokémon. It then promptly disappeared back into Rei's tunic. His other pokémon stayed firmly in their pokéballs, occasionally rocking against the stump.
Yuki had loaned out his Starly for the Diamond Clan to use so that they could relay messages to the neighboring encampment. For the time being, he had nabbed a little Shinx that had come too close and had taken to feeding it scraps from his pockets.
Pikachu glared at the two, jealousy glittering in its eyes as it tried to fight its way out of Rei's tunic.
"Easy there, buddy." Rei gave the electric-mouse a pat between the ears, looking just as scared of his own partner as the people of Jubilife Village were of pokémon. "I'll have some snacks for you once we manage to get outta here." He then turned to Akari, making a show of twiddling his fingers together. "All of your stuff is still out there, isn't it?" he mumbled lowly.
"Yes. Yes, it is," Akari responded quietly.
Rei gave a quiet sigh, edging closer on his side of the stump. "I know I keep asking, but… how're you… how're you holding up?"
Akari didn't answer at first, turning to look toward where the rolling hills of snow met the calm icy waters of the river. By comparison, the southern dock seemed empty apart from a few Shellos and maybe a Gastrodon or two. They were helpers; from what Akari had heard, Sandgem kept the gooey pokémon around because they were friendly and because their moisture helped keep some of the medicinal herbs alive during such brutal winters similar to the one she was living through. She didn't dare think of what Commander Kamado or Captain Cyllene would say when they returned to Jubilife with word of the first day's events: a failure. She stared at the soiled fabric along her pants and shoes and scowled, bunching the soaked fabric in her hands. I failed. It was a simple little task: survey the pokémon along the river and then go back home. That was all I had to do.
Akari had been told that the mission would take about four to five days- maybe two if she were really unlucky. She had also been told that because Lord Kleavor was struck on the same night of her trial, that it was her job to do something about it. She hadn't even seen the lord in person, but she had heard that the Commander was cursing her arrival and was looking for any excuse to keep her away from Jubilife, and more importantly from him. Akari blinked. She was trembling again.
The Sandgem members had already found the corpse of the John Doe, but none had mentioned anything about who the person was or how the skirmish could've taken place. There were no signs that neither Jaku nor her friend had even been there at all apart from the charred bedrolls and scraps of fabric in the undergrowth. The rangers were still in the process of bringing everything back.
One of the clansmen had mentioned, with a pallid face, that they hadn't checked the location south of the bay: the place where an alpha Snorlax was known to rest. The same place the trio had practically trampled on while fleeing the scene of the attack the night before. It had come up in a note sent in by the Fieldlands Encampment. Not a single person had seen a Snorlax yet that day.
Akari turned toward Kiran again, clearing her throat. "When are we going to be able to leave, sir?"
"When another pair of scouts arrive," the man responded curtly. "We can't send you back until that alpha Snorlax has been accounted for or until further reinforcements have arrived. That's the last time I'll be telling you," he growled. Kiran stared at the tip of his spear and raised a finger to drag the pad along the blade's face. "You're sure you don't remember what attacked you in the night?"
"It was a Luxray. A-an alpha one," Rei croaked.
Kiran scoffed. "My men can deal with a Luxray. Even an alpha. Why wouldn't we have heard it?"
That was the fourth time the man had asked that question and the fourth time Rei had to look so cowed. Rei balled up his fists. "It was Jaku who saw the thing first. We didn't get to see it since it was so dark out." Rei paused. "We would've helped too but the two of them ordered us to flee. What else could we have done?" The boy opened his mouth as if to continue speaking but faltered at the last moment, his dark eyes flickering to the camp entrance.
A cluster of Starlys took flight into the sky as a group of people slowly filed into the camp, their voices low and their eyes searching. Cups clattered and boots thudded in the soft dirt. An unintelligible mass of navy blue, yellow, and white picked its way over the wooden bridge to the encampment from afar. With a quick holler, two Galaxy Scouts broke away from the group and ran up to them, their eyes lighting up.
"There they are!"
"Thank the gods! They're okay!" The other scout gave them a lopsided smile before pulling off his rucksack.
Akari noticed that the scout carried extra bedding: it was her bedding "Is that my stuff?" she questioned, rising stiffly from her seat.
"Yeah. We found it covered with snow by Verity Bank." The scout unlatched his pack and handed Akari back her things. "I was beginning to think we'd find you two in the same state as that… uh," at Akari's look of discomfort, the scout paused. "You know what I mean. Here's your stuff back. It's all damp but nothing a good day in the sun and wind won't fix."
"So what now?" Rei asked. "Where do we go from now? We did disobey our orders; we went farther than Verity Bay."
"That was done for survival. It's excusable. Now, we go." The first scout repositioned his rucksack on his back, gesturing with his head toward the encampment entrance. "New order from the commander: get back to the encampment. Apparently, there's been more casualties and Lord Wyrdeer has been tallied into the frenzy as well."
"Lord Wyrdeer?" Akari uttered, a shiver of apprehension running through her as she took a step back.
"That is neither confirmed nor proven to be him." A slender, dark-haired woman emerged from a tent carrying a shiny hatchet followed closely by a Munchlax. Her dark eyes darted over to them and she faced the two scouts cooly, her pale eyes betraying nothing as she stared the three of them down. "But yes, you should stay well away from Deertrack Heights on your journey back to your camp."
"Warden Mai!" The two scouts made a lightning-fast saluting gesture, bringing their clenched right hands over their chest before returning to standing ramrod-straight.
"That's quite enough. Saluting isn't necessary and I'm not within your chain of command." She turned to face the trio again, frowning with a hand on her chin. "Chief Caru claimed that you three didn't sustain any terrible injuries." She gave them a quick once-over and then nodded. "I am glad to see that he was correct. You are alright, aren't you?"
Akari nodded. "We're okay. No injuries here." She glanced away toward the camp opening. "There's really no sign of Jaku out there? Nobody will tell us anything about what happened to her and that guy she was with. I know that some kind of letter from the Galaxy Team made its way here earlier, but nobody has told Rei or I what was on it."
"That faller that came along with you? Almighty Sinnoh's other Chosen?" Mai shook her head. "I haven't seen her. Munchlax hasn't managed to scent her either. All our scouts managed to find was a scorched section of the Floaro Woods just a few paces away from the bank. We had to pull away from there due to that Snorlax. It's dozing now." Mai leaned up against a nearby tree, shaking a thin blanket of snow from her shoulders. "If it's any comfort to you, I pray she makes it back alive."
Akari shut her eyes and turned away, clutching onto Oshawott's pokéball. I could've helped. I could've stayed behind and fought. When did I become such a coward? All this talk at the beginning of seeking out all pokémon when I couldn't even handle the sight of a corpse. What kind of chosen one am I supposed to be?
"You seem to be caught up in all the newest happenings, don't you?"
Akari knew that voice. Another group had emerged into the camp and within it was a very familiar blond man carrying a very familiar rucksack trailed by a very familiar pokémon. The man noticed her eager stare, meeting her with a benevolent grin.
"Mister Volo!" Akari greeted him, a smile splitting her face cheek-to-cheek as she wandered up closer to the man.
"Miss Akari! My favorite customer!" Volo waved, taking a minute to fix the position of the large rucksack on his back. "Don't mind my intrusion. The Gingko Guild regularly serves all the clans' encampments, even if it means treading through dangerous waters! We're well prepared!" Togepi waddled in behind him looking excited and thrilled at the adventure ahead of it. Volo chuckled at the little thing.
Akari turned. Rei had already excused himself to speak more with Warden Mai, and Kiran was talking with his fellow guardsmen with Yuki hanging on like a pesky Wurmple. She turned and decided that at least, she'd make herself useful. She began helping the Gingko Guild merchants unpack their wares, milling mostly around Volo as his Togepi just did not want to let go of her trousers.
"Seems like Lord Wyrdeer is now frenzied," Volo began slowly, pulling out a batch of potions. "Nobody knows what's causing them. As morbid as it seems, at least our potions are selling tremendously well. Can't ever remember going out of stock so quickly."
"Why would you say something like that?" Akari protested.
"Because it's true," the merchant responded nonchalantly. He swept a lock of his hair behind his ear, fixing her with a curious look. "Why, quite a lot of our customers buy them not knowing that they only really do wonders for pokémon." Volo brought a cracked glass bottle up to his eye for closer inspection and continued to talk. "Not quite sure why we don't sell potions meant for people, but that's up to Ginter's discretion; gives us great business amongst the Galaxy Team and the clans, though."
"Are all the clans that desperate for potions?" She knew she had a few in her pack. But then again, I haven't used any of them due to… Akari quickly disregarded the thought.
Volo smiled at her. Akari matched his expression. She liked to think that she could read people's expressions fairly easily and what she saw in Volo's smile was a fabricated one. One that was weary but carefully intended to fool her into taking his words at face value.
"Let's just say we've had to request more from our partners abroad," is what the merchant finally said.
Akari didn't mind Volo all that much. He wasn't treating her like a burden, but he did treat her like a child, sugar-coating his pleasantries and using what she thought was his best customer-service impression on her. But he'd been the first to treat her like an actual person and that made him a wonderful guy in her eyes.
They had met just before Akari had been sent out on her first task and instead of criticizing her, he first seized a chance to hawk his wares upon her. When that didn't work, he challenged her to a battle. It wasn't a battle more than it was a one-sided beatdown. That'd been the only time Akari could remember her partner listening to her and winning the match. And even after Volo had lost, he had seemed thrilled at her penchant for battling. Always smiling and joking, Akari felt that Volo was a pleasure to see and a dear to chat with. On that day, though-
"What's beyond the sea, Mister Volo?" Akari asked aloud. "Why not travel away from Hisui? Leave the danger behind?" She eyed him warily. "You don't seem to mind pokémon all that much. Don't you find them scary like everyone else? Don't you think they're dangerous?"
Volo chuckled. "Well, pokémon are dangerous everywhere, Miss Akari; there's no getting around that. And besides. I've got to make money somehow." He pulled off his hat and stared at the summit of Mt. Coronet, his smile briefly flickering away. "Hisui is the only home I've ever known. It's always been like this. I wouldn't know what to do with myself even if I did leave it all behind."
"I suppose that's as good a reason as any."
"Too true!" Volo snapped back to his overly friendly demeanor, wagging his finger as if chiding himself or perhaps her. After a bit of a pause, he glanced back at her. "So! What about your quest?"
"Hmm?"
"You know exactly what I'm getting at, Miss Akari." His smile disappeared to be replaced by a smirk of sorts. He rolled up his sleeves and began setting out his tins of rice and bean cakes.
"You can just call me Akari, you know."
"Oh no! I couldn't possibly treat one of my favorite customers so casually. It's not good for business."
"As if I've ever bought anything from you."
"I'll gain your trust someday! Well?"
"Well, nothing." Akari threw her hands up. "I can't exactly 'seek out all pokémon' if I can't leave the village without worrying about whether I'm going to get mauled to death by day's end." She shuddered, remembering the look Jaku had worn before she charged into the brush. Apprehension. Dread. Defiance. Akari held aloft her sole pokéball. "Not even Oshawott will listen to me," she whispered. "It's as if Almighty Sinnoh is playing some elaborate trick on me."
"It's not a trick if it isn't funny. That would just be cruel." Volo stopped smiling, glancing at his Togepi as the little creature flopped into the grass grabbing at a Starly as it fluttered closer. "But then again, Almighty Sinnoh works in mysterious ways, isn't that right?"
"You're telling me." Akari gripped the pokéball harder. "I don't know what Almighty Sinnoh was thinking when he warped me here, but I'm no chosen one. Even with this-" she pulled out her Arc Phone from her pocket- "stupid prophetic pebble in my back pocket."
"…May I see it?"
Akari raised an eyebrow. "Sure. I doubt it'll spit out anything useful. At least, nothing but more prophetic nonsense. All it does is serve as a paperweight for me at this point." She nonchalantly dropped the phone into his awaiting hands.
Volo took a careful hold of the phone, running his fingers over the golden seal along the back. His original look of confusion had morphed into one of unrestrained curiosity. In a series of taps, his expression changed from one of confusion to one of wild excitement. His eyes darted about the screen before settling near the bottom. He grinned. "There's a new message for you."
Akari froze. "What?"
Volo turned around the screen. The former prophecy had vanished, replaced with a detailed topographic map of what the phone depicted as the Obsidian Fieldlands. There was even a little cursor marking her exact location in the Sandgem Encampment. A new prophecy decorated the bottom of the screen. "The Frenzy of the Lord of the Woods; Calm Lord Kleavor's Frenzy," Volo read aloud, his usual calm voice now breathless with wonder. His fascination with the device was obvious, the way his silver eyes gleamed and his breaths seemed to come in spurts. It was the second real smile she'd seen the man wear, second only after the grin he had given her after she had beat him in their match days before.
"You've gotta be joking." She took the phone from him, fingers trembling. He hadn't been joking. "You've gotta be kidding me!" she groaned. "That can't be right!"
"You've got your orders, Chosen One," Volo teased.
"How can you be so calm right now?" Akari fumed. "How can everyone be so calm right now? First, it was Jaku making jokes and now it's you, smiling about a mission that might send me to my grave! How come nobody else can deal with this? I just got here not even a month ago!"
"I'd recommend you relax." Volo's tone was now calmer as he rolled down his sleeves, setting a gentle hand on Akari's shoulder. "Almighty Sinnoh chose you for a reason. I'd doubt they'd give you a mission without being completely sure you'd pass it with flying colors. And just think! You aced that task that the Galaxy folks gave you when you washed up on Prelude Beach! You'll be fine!"
"That was catching innocent pokémon in some flower field! Not exactly the same as going to fight and capture a frenzied pokémon that has a body count under its belt!"
Volo shook his head and went back to setting up his wares, nudging her away when she tried to continue helping him. "You should believe more in yourself," he urged. "Start with getting to know that partner of yours. Get stronger. There wasn't any time limit on that mission, last I'd checked." Then with a smirk, he added- "And isn't a certain warden supposed to be coming down here to assist in calming Lord Kleavor? Don't think it's all up to you. That'd be a lot of hubris in one tiny body."
Akari blinked and then cast her eyes at the ground. She felt like a scolded child, having something so obvious made clear as day by a man she hadn't known for more than a week. She rubbed the back of her head. "Right, of course."
"And if you're in need of supplies, you're more than welcome to come back and give me a visit! Since you're Almighty Sinnoh's Chosen, I have no choice but to give you a discount! It'll do wonders for our branding," he added in an undertone.
"How much?"
"The discount? Hmm. I think, maybe, two cenz off?"
"...Mister Volo, you charge over three hundred cenz for a potion. That's hardly a discount."
March 11th, First Year
It wasn't all that long before Akari, Rei, and Yuki set out with the two other Galaxy scouts and two of the Diamond Clan scouts. They weaved north along the river, taking care to listen to the hills in case the alpha Snorlax decided to make an appearance.
Akari had finally relented and released the Oshawott from its ball. It shook itself out and glared at her, beady eyes scrutinizing the state of her gear. Something about the color of its fur rubbed her the wrong way, like she was staring at some attempted copy of somebody she knew. "Don't look at me like that," she scowled.
"Osh!"
They traveled in silence. Oshawott walked itself through the group, mostly sticking just behind Rei sending her nasty glances over its shoulder every now and then. Great. I've already muddled my relationship with my only partner here in Hisui.
They were just approaching the crossroads from Aspiration Hill toward Deertrack Heights when they were called out to by a group of approaching scouts. Akari didn't think she had ever seen so many of her corpsmen at the same time.
"Oi!"
"Komuro!" Rei gave a huge smile and rushed forward to envelope the older man in a bone-crushing hug, Yuki close behind as he nearly threw the other man off of his feet. The four men eventually let go when the oldest one relented.
"Off, you little worms!"
"Not a chance! You two should've been back ages ago!" Yuki declared.
"Aww! Did somebody miss us?"
"Miss you? As if!" Rei scoffed playfully. "Where've you been? I haven't seen you guys in forever! Yuki's been asking about you two ever since you left!"
"Sure have!"
Another scout joined the party, looking spooked but none worse for wear. They gave Rei a friendly pat on the head. They kind of look like him too. Brothers, maybe?
"Rei! Finally, out of that stuffy office, I see!" The first one teased, ruffling the boy's hair.
The second man glanced at the pokéballs lining Rei's hip and he brightened immediately. "And you've got some new pokémon! Finally managed to grow a pair, eh? You've become quite the scout since the last time I saw you!"
"Rei, who's this?" Akari intervened.
The older man smiled and offered a hand to her. "Name's Komuro. This here-" he gestured at the man behind him- "is Daigo. We're fellow Galaxy Team scouts. I take it we haven't met before?"
"We haven't. I'm Akari."
"She's brand new," Rei cut in, his hands once again grabbing onto the hem of her sleeve. He faced her. "Remember how I was telling you about our senior ranking scouts being able to travel farther into Hisui? Komuro and Daigo are some of those scouts!"
"All true!" Komuro smirked. He then frowned. "But let's get a move on back to the Fieldlands Encampment. Daigo and I have some bad news and it's best that the whole camp hears. Gotta make sure it goes into the report so that the commander knows."
The two Diamond Clan escorts stopped in their tracks. "Then our job here is finished. We will travel back to our encampment and give word to our leader. Should we spot your missing scouts, we'll send word via a flying pokémon."
"Missing scouts as in plural?" Daigo muttered. "Rei? Care to explain?"
"I'll tell you about it when we're on the way," he promised. "They're not from the Galaxy Team."
After a minute, Komuro nodded and turned to face the Diamond Clan members. "Sounds good. Thank you for looking after our junior scouts here." Komuro saluted before adjusting his pack, Daigo quickly taking the lead. "The Galaxy Team thanks you for your hospitality." He eyed Rei, Akari, and Yuki and with a sweeping arm motion, urged the three of them toward the hill.
"What's going on?" Akari was first to ask.
"Sorry, but we really do need to get a move on," Komuro muttered. He cast a dark glance at the bridge behind him and spurred the rest of the party onward. "You'll learn soon enough."
When they made it back to the camp, Komuro sat them all down in the narrow passageways between the long tents and gathered the scouts hanging about nearby to have a "discussion". But it wasn't a discussion. He bore news; bad news. Worse news, even. Lord Wyrdeer had become frenzied and as proof, they pulled out pictures from their travels. Akari did not look. Rei did.
She heard Rei's paralyzed mumblings of the picture's subjects. Grainy photos of corpses hung in the trees, drowned by the rocks, or flat on their backs, eyes blank, trails of blood dripping from their eyes, ears, and nose. All facing the top of Deertrack Heights. And much to Akari's horror, her Arc Phone buzzed in its compartment. The screen had another new task for her, pulsing and searing at her eyes. The Frenzy of the Lord of the Hills: Calm Lord Wyrdeer's Frenzy.