October 8th, First Year

Akari braced as a gust of wind nearly carried her off of her feet, feeling somewhat glad to split from Volo as the older man disappeared behind a crumbled brick wall heading up into the mountains. Strange that he didn't have anything to say to me this time. I wonder what he's been up to. Akari let out a breath through her nose. And more importantly, how we just keep seeming to run into each other at the weirdest times. Akari instead let her feet carry her toward the coast and into her assigned tent where only drips and leaks from the storm could reach.

While she had been excited to see both Ingo and Jaku at the same time, she had revealed her activities to both of them and she wasn't entirely too keen to see how her stunt in the mirelands had echoed across Hisui. Ingo isn't mad at me; he actually believed my little lie. But Jaku… I wonder what she's thinking. I wonder what Volo did with her.

"Hey, 'Kari!" Yuki appeared from behind a small linen curtain, slinging one arm around Akari's shoulder as he tugged her over toward a quiet section of the tent. "Where've you been? We've had all these notes and messages come pouring in via the message network; really could've used your help."

"Heh heh. Sorry, Yuki." Akari gently moved out of Yuki's grip and straightened out her hair, looking in awe at the sheer amount of furled up letters and parcels decorating the scout tent. She had only recently been tasked out to the Trail Encampment. It was the newest of the Galaxy Team posts and the only one that had been constructed with the help of pokémon thus far. "Hey, where did all these messages come from?"

"Most are from HQ." Yuki then knelt down and hoisted up a small package, tossing it to her. "This one's from the professor." He then tossed a wax-sealed scroll at her. "This one's from Rei. They came through earlier. You've got a few with no names on them. I just figured you'd want to read the professor and Rei's letters first."

"Aww! From both of them?" Akari took the parcels over to her own cot, sitting cross-legged as Yuki thumped down beside her. The last she had spoken to either had been almost a week prior when she had decided to stay behind in the Sludge Encampment and clean up after the stray Onix Volo had let loose. After all, she had promised to make amends with the two and it all started with her lending a helping hand, even if that same hand had been the reason that both men had been forced to lose their memories. "They're okay?"

"Rei's getting back to normal. Oh, and the professor moved back to HQ. Apparently, Rei's back on his feet again and he's chipping back in with the pokédex like never before. Knowing that guy, he's probably trying to catch up or something." Yuki pulled out a ration of bread from his pack and began to gnaw on it, kicking his feet back-and-forth. "From what I heard, Warden Calaba is still alive."

Akari's mouth fell open. "Are you serious?! She's still alive?! How?!"

"That's what I said. I mean, no disrespect to Calaba but she was practically dead when you and Volo brought her in after dealing with Lord Ursaluna- or so the reports say. And that's not all!" Yuki swallowed his portion of bread before taking a massive sip from his canteen. "The two of them- Calaba and Rei- apparently, they went off to some hot spring. Something like that. Healed the two of them right up."

"There's a place like that?" Akari wondered aloud, quickly beginning to tear open the professor's package. "Hey, why didn't they take us sick people there then? Would've appreciated not being in a coma for an entire month."

Yuki shrugged. "Dunno. I guess it's a place only Calaba knew about. Rei got invited for some reason or another, though he didn't say anything about it in the last letter he sent me." Yuki then leaned haphazardly over Akari's shoulder, smiling. "Oh! But hey! Looks like Rei wrote you quite a bit so who knows? We may find some breadcrumbs about it."

"I think I've 'found' quite a few breadcrumbs already," Akari retorted playfully, quickly shaking the dry crumbs of Yuki's bread from her tunic. "Chew with your mouth closed. Now, let's see what's in here." Akari carefully peeled back the protective shell to reveal…

"Oh!" Yuki reached in and pulled out a huge glass jar. "I know this!" He unscrewed the lid and dipped a finger in, bringing the viscous clear mixture to his nose. "This is a powerful healing salve! I think it's the strongest stuff we've got back at HQ as a matter of fact!" Yuki then winked at Akari. "Used that off-time after getting my leg broken to learn stuff in the healing wing. You know the nurses said I have a good nose for herbs?"

"I bet they did." Akari set down the professor's heavy gift of much-needed supplies, instead reaching for the letter Rei had sent her.

Akari

How are you? It's Rei and guess what? I finally got cleared to get back into survey work again! It's a bit boring working in the mirelands without you or Yuki around, but I guess I'll manage. I'm gonna aim to try and see as many pokémon as possible but I'm hoping the commander will let me venture out to the coastlands and join you guys. I heard Basculegion became frenzied but knowing you, you'll do just fine with the help you have. Keep me informed! It's boring here all by myself!

Rei

Akari smiled dumbly, ignoring her own protesting mind as she rolled up the letter and stuck it into her rucksack stashed under her cot. Things are getting better, slowly but surely.

October 9th, First Year

"This building right here is where we'll be stationed for the time being."

Akari had been tasked to simply help out where manpower was needed and coincidentally, her manpower had been requested at Gingko Landing, the one place where she didn't want to be. She followed behind Yuki as the taller boy ducked under a stained curtain, gesturing for her to be silent as he directed her toward a wooden counter where two women were talking in hushed tones.

"Excuse me," Yuki cleared his throat, quietly getting the attention of the women. "My name is Hiroyuki, and this here is Akari. We're from the Galaxy Expedition Team." Yuki brought the patched section of his tunic into the light, revealing the team's insignia. "We're here to lend aid."

Akari found herself nodding, feeling invigorated by her friend's directness. I need to be just as professional! "Where do you want us and what do you want us to be doing?"

"Excellent. Kamado wastes no time sending you scouts out, doesn't he?" The first woman opened a section of the rope barrier, escorting them further into the creaking wooden home. "Follow me. I need more hands for wrapping wounds and making healing salves."

"I can help make salves," Yuki declared jubilantly. "I was taught by the nurses back in Jubilife how to make them."

"And I can perform the manual labor," Akari insisted.

The nurse quickly put the two of them to work in the back section of the wooden shack, Yuki sorting through a massive clump of waterlogged herbs while Akari flitted from cot-to-cot, helping the nurses hold and bind numerous laceration and scrape wounds. The entire back of the hut smelled of both disinfectant and infection, the stinging and sharp odor of mint heavy in the air.

Akari broke off the moment another Galaxy Scout came to relieve her, settling alongside Yuki as the boy continued to carefully pulverize a handful of seeds in a mortar. "Did the nurses really teach you how to mix herbs and make salves?"

"Yeah." Yuki's voice was uncharacteristically calm and focused as he inspected the fine powder in the depth of the mortar. "I had nothing else to do besides watch them work. Eventually, I asked them to let me help- give me something to do while I waited for my leg to get better."

"But you've still got a limp," Akari pointed out.

Yuki snorted. "Don't remind me. It's bad enough it's permanent. Anyways, I learned a bunch of cool stuff from the Jubilife nurses. They even taught me more advanced stuff like setting up blood-related equipment in the field and how to make medicines for toothaches. Numbing salves too. Stuff like that." Yuki carefully mixed the seed powder with a small amount of water and a pulpy herb mix, shaking the concoction furiously in a glass jar. "It's fun. I like being able to help like this."

Akari smiled. She was glad to find that Yuki hadn't been all too scarred by the events with the Luxray, setting a steadying hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should become a nurse yourself," she suggested softly. "Why not do what you're good at?"

Beneath her touch, Yuki froze, nearly cracking the glass against the hardwood table. "What? Become a nurse?" He vehemently began to shake his head, setting the glass back down on the table. "But if I become a nurse, then what about the Survey Corps? What about my dream of becoming the best scout?"

"You'd still be helping the corps," Akari responded. "And it's not like you'd be left behind. You can still train pokémon as a nurse. Heck, you already have three pokémon! Why not be both a nurse and a pokémon wielder?"

Yuki met her gaze, his eyes sparkling. "Yeah… yeah! Yeah, I can do that!" He immediately went back to making another salve, his hands jittering around his pestle. "None of the nurses I know own any pokémon- "

"It's always nice to see the young folk so lively around here."

Akari nearly fell out of her seat, her dumbstruck expression matching Yuki's as the two whipped around in their seats to see a tall, bedraggled man observing them from the curtained-off door. His drab clothes seemed to hang off of his bulky frame and the bags under his eyes were so deep that they made his eyes look sunk into his skull. But he still smiled kindly upon them.

"Oh please. Don't let me disturb you. I only just walked in here after all." The man passed the two of them by, moving to kneel at the bedside of a bandaged man. "Oh. And you Galaxy folks are only due to be here until noon. Something about training orders from your commander."

"Thank you, Mister…?"

"Adrianos," the man spoke lowly. "I don't expect you to know who I am, but for future reference, I am the sole proprietor of Gingko Landing." He extended a calloused hand for both of the children to shake. "Not that I'm expecting you to bow and salute me, no!" he chuckled.

"S-sorry. We'll remember in the future!" Akari apologized profusely.

"Don't let it bother you too much, lass." Adrianos then studied the two of them further. "But as I said, it's well and almost noon and you two need some sunshine. Out you go." He tipped Yuki out of his chair and began herding the children out. "You both need some fresh air. You especially, lass."

"What? Why me?"

"Because Kamado mentioned what you're really here to do." Adrianos ceased his pushing by the doors of the shack, his expression thoughtful. "I hate to count on a kid; 'specially when us adults could be doing well and enough to figure it out on our own."

"That's okay. I don't mind my job anymore," Akari assured the man. She was being truthful. Sure, she wasn't having fun being an errand girl, but there was fun in spending time with Yuki away from the watchful gazes of the Galaxy Team. There was also fun in spending time with her pokémon and properly training them outside of battling. "I just wish finding a place to start would be easier. Lord Basculegion is near impossible to find in the sea right now and Warden Iscan is missing too."

"Yeah, that is a bummer," Yuki joined in, pouting.

Adrianos set one arm outside of the door to check on the downpour, wincing when his arm and sleeve came back in dripping. "Ah. Right. Iscan. Never had an issue with that fellow. He's the kind to stick to a schedule if I've been reading him right." He then leaned toward Akari, his eyes twinkling. "Pardon me, but I do believe that your best course of action is to simply head to the man's home anyways."

"His home?" Akari echoed. But didn't the previous scouts already check there? Come to think of it, who were the people to check on him and declare him missing in the first place?

"Yep. His home! And it's quite easy to get to if you don't mind the wild pokémon along the way. Do you got a map, lass?" Upon receiving Akari's map, Adrianos brought one bandaged finger toward the southern section of the map where the mountainous hills settled into a sandy bay. "This here clump of trees o'er by the southern mass of hills is where Iscan set up his tent. His home's like a lighthouse: easy to spot from a distance. Ah. But perhaps you should wait until the wind eases up."

After an hour of waiting for the worst of the storm to pass over, Akari and Yuki eventually left the relative safety of the shack, walking along the tattered boardwalks back toward the sandy beach.

"It really is only noon," Yuki complained. "And I really don't wanna go back to camp. Knowing our camp leader, he'll have us do busy work until we die of catching a cold."

"I don't doubt that," Akari joked back. She let her eyes wander along the ravaged beach, spotting something large and gray trotting along the shore dodging the crashing waves. "I didn't think there were still wild pokémon out and about," Akari commented under her breath.

"There aren't supposed to be. Where do you see…?" Yuki's eyes widened and he immediately ran toward the handrails of the docks. "Isn't that Lord Wyrdeer?"

"Lord Wyrdeer?" Akari only had a moment to recognize what Yuki had been referring to before the noble in question had come to a whistling stop in front of her, its silhouette outlined in black as a flash of lightning lit up the sky. Akari hadn't ever been that close to Wyrdeer, nor had she had any experience with the noble pokémon throughout her entire time in Hisui. The great buck had pulled up so closely that Akari could make out the individual hairs on the noble's broad chest. With a snort and a shake of its horned head, Lord Wyrdeer set its cold gaze upon Akari from up high.

"There You Are, Chosen Champion Of Almighty Sinnoh. I Was Beginning To Think That You Had Succumbed To The Storm." Wyrdeer's voice was harsh and cold like the biting chill of winter as it rattled about inside of Akari's skull.

"You're… looking for me?" Akari responded almost immediately. "What for? Is something the matter?"

"Nothing Is Amiss, But It Would Seem As If You Require Assistance In Hastening Your Task." Wyrdeer gracefully lowered itself onto the wet sand, looking none too pleased as a clump of wet sand got stuck into its chin fur. "I Am To Serve As Your Mount For The Time Being. I Can Escort You Quickly To The Warden That Cares For Basculegion."

"Iscan?"

"Yes. Him."

But I already have Mars. Akari palmed her ace pokémon's capsule, feeling the mare's heavy flames settle against the metal bottom. No matter. You're my best mount and you'll always come first. This is just temporary. "Okay. Thank you, Lord Wyrdeer." Without another word, Akari carefully approached the noble and was careful to settle herself on the pokémon's broad back, wincing at the cold, icy seawater seeping into her trousers.

"Can I come with too?" Yuki delicately asked the noble. "Two is better than one and I want to help as well."

Wyrdeer let out a heady snort, jostling Akari forward on its back. "He Cannot Hear My Voice, But The Young One May Come Along. But Be Quick About It; The Storm Is Due To Worsen Eventually."

Akari extended a hand for Yuki to take. "Lord Wyrdeer says you can come with."

Yuki immediately bowed at the noble pokémon. "T-thank you!"

Once Yuki had settled in behind Akari, Akari followed Wyrdeer's directions, took hold of the curling horns along the noble's back, and held on tight as Wyrdeer set off at a frightening pace along the sandy beach. The sheer winds tore at Akari's face and caused her eyes to water, her hands becoming sore the tighter she was forced to grab onto Wyrdeer's horns for balance. Compared to Mars' smooth and steady gait, Lord Wyrdeer's was choppy and rough.

They passed along the whirling waves of the sea, Wyrdeer escorting them to an inlet of the bay where the remnants of the hills formed a small lake. Wyrdeer was careful to skirt around what looked to be an alpha Ambipom hanging around in a cluster of berry trees before taking them up a steep hill clustered with wildflowers. They then arrived at a small, overshadowed clearing, Wyrdeer quickly lowering himself back down onto the ground.

"Here We Are."

Akari was slow to dismount, allowing Yuki to do so before her and graciously accepting his help in getting down. "Warden Iscan lives around here? I didn't take him to be a hermit." She peered first at the towering trees dotting the hills, watching the shadows twitch in the thick undergrowth. She'd been expecting a meadow of some kind from the maps; not a jungle-esque forest. "A bit further through the trees, I'm guessing?"

"You Would Be Correct, Chosen One." Wyrdeer straightened out, staring intently through the shadows of the forest before shaking the ruff around its neck. "I Cannot Escort You All The Way To Your Intended Target. This Is As Close As I Can Take You."

"That's just fine. You already got us far from Gingko Landing. It would've taken us a few hours to walk all this way."

"You got that right!" Yuki chuckled, reaching for the sheathed saber at his hip. "But we've still got some jungle land to get through. Enough chit-chat. Let's see if we can find this guy's house before it gets dark."

"Right." Akari turned to properly bade off Lord Wyrdeer, her voice dying in her throat when she turned and saw her own bag floating just beside the noble's head. "Wha- "

"You Will Need This In Case You Need Summon Me Again." A long and pristine wooden flute had floated out of the thick mane around Wyrdeer's throat and fit itself snugly into the inner compartment in her bag. "It Is A Gift From My Beloved Caretaker." Wyrdeer's eyes narrowed. "And Might I Emphasize That You Are Due To Deliver The Mind Plate? Surely, You Have Not Forgotten Your Agreement With My Warden?"

Akari's mind went blank. Agreement? For the Mind Plate? Over what?

"You Agreed To Escort The Mind Plate To The Champion Of Time," Wyrdeer growled. "Perhaps, It Would Be Better To Take It Myself." And before Akari could argue, Lord Wyrdeer snatched the plate out of her bag and stowed it away in his mane.

"Can I… have that back? Please?" Akari begged. She shot a careful gaze at Yuki, knowing well that the boy had not a clue about the secret discussion they were carrying on with.

"No. You Will Come To Possess This Object At A Later Date. And In Lying To Both Me And My Caretaker, You Do Not Deserve To Have It." Wyrdeer then stomped one hoof into the ground. "Do Not Be Foolish, Chosen One."

Akari shrunk back from the noble's wrath, inwardly rebuking herself for even daring to ask for the plate back. Right. Right. That's my fault. I totally did forget about taking it to Jaku. "Sorry."

"Save Your Apologies. In Exchange For Allowing You To Borrow Such An Aged Relic, I Will Take Something Of Equal Value Not To Include The Mind Plate." Wyrdeer kept Akari in place as it used its powers to pull the Griseous Orb from her bag. "You Should Not Possess This Item, Chosen One." Wyrdeer's eyes seemed to stare her down, its grating tone sharpening with anger and suspicion as it withdrew the item back into its shaggy mane. "It Corrupts. I Will 'Borrow' It For The Time Being."

Akari didn't protest. She had seen what the grinded-up powder of the Griseous Orb could do and wanted nothing to do with the cursed item anymore. It was better that Wyrdeer take it. "But what if I have questions?" Akari asked simply, purposefully withholding the context from Yuki who stared back-and-forth between his shivering teammate and the stock-still noble.

"I Will Attempt To Answer Your Questions In Place Of The Renegade. Now, Play The Flute. I Will Answer To Your Summons Whenever You Should Play It In The Hopes Of Calling Upon My Aid."

"Even if I wasn't the one who helped to quell you?" Akari couldn't help but ask. "I mean, why are you helping me? What changed?"

Wyrdeer approached until the tip of his nose was only a hair away from Akari's face, his warm breath ghosting along her head. "You Were Sent Here By Arceus To Quell The Calamities Of This Land. It Is The Least I Can Do To Assist You Throughout Your Journey By The Request Of My Caretaker. Now. Play The Flute."

"…Oookay?" Carefully, Akari accepted her bag and drew out the pristine flute, giving the instrument a quick but shaking blow. She quietly studied the weathered etching along the instrument, an ache beginning to build at the base of her neck as her shoddy breath played a wild, discordant song that echoed despite the howling wind and rain. "How was that?"

Wyrdeer sniffed. "I Will Not Comment On Your Performance. But Now That I Recognize The Sound Of Your Playing, I Will Be Able To Come To Your Aid Should You Require My Assistance."

Akari beamed despite recognizing the chilly tone in the noble pokémon's telepathic voice. "Thank you, Lord Wyrdeer!"

Wyrdeer only tossed its head and trotted away disappearing in a thick cloud of fog, leaving Akari and Yuki to make a slow journey into the dense forest.

An hour passed and the two children had successfully passed through the forest without interruption, panting as the warm rains finally settled trading out for perilous winds. Akari kept one hand fully attached to Yuki's tunic as she climbed up a crumbling stone wall, hooking one leg over the edge for support. She had climbed every hill searching for Warden Iscan's home and had had no such luck in locating the place.

"Do you think we should call it a day?" Yuki climbed up beside her, wincing as his bad leg knocked against the cliff face. "I mean, it's probably almost sundown and who knows when the rain is going to start up again. I really really don't want to get sick from exposure."

"It's a bit too late for that." Akari held up her dripping sleeve for emphasis. "Oh! But maybe since it stopped raining, Mars can help us dry out!" Akari called upon her ace pokémon who wasted no time in curling its massive body around the two children. "Much better!"

"I'll say!"

"Okay. So it's nearly sundown and still no sign of Iscan." Akari scanned further along the horizon toward a sandy part of the bay where numerous broken-down ships had run aground, dense curtains of fog being swept upward into the sky. "Maybe we should check over there."

Yuki raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "You want to go to Deadwood Haunt? Isn't that place supposed to be infested with ghost-type pokémon? I mean, that's what the people of Gingko Landing told me."

"Ghost-type, schmost-type. We can go do a quick look-see and if there's nothing there, then we go back to camp. How about that?"

Yuki got to his feet, pulling Akari after him as he paused to survey the bay as well. "I think… that that's a great idea! Nobody can say we didn't try after all."

Mars slowly uncurled and in one swift moment, heaved both Akari and Yuki onto its back. The dense flames licked at their clothes, making the biting cold of the storm a fading memory.

Hills turned into sandy dunes and dense grasslands. The ferocious waves of the storm beat against the cliffs and as they retreated back to the sea, Akari could make out the deeper grasslands that had been flooded some time ago, sighting a slender shape swimming through the drowned tall grass. Grasslands turned into stretches of gravel and sand that squished under Mars' hooves.

Akari had kept her eye on the horizon until spotting what looked to be a bulbous figure floating near the mast of a sunken ship. "Mars, halt. Something's up ahead."

"A ghost-type pokémon," Yuki whispered in awe. "Should we get closer?"

"No. Let's just go around it. We don't want to get into any unnecessary fights in enemy territory." Akari was careful to steer Mars in a wide circle around the hidden ghost-type but even that seemed to get the creature's attention. One minute, the pokémon's form was illuminated by the mast and the next, the creature was only a few paces away from her, hidden under the thick dripping branches of a fir tree. Mars snorted, taking a daring step forward. "Don't. Stay calm, Mars."

No pokémon were out during the calamitous storm which made the ghost-type's presence even stranger. Akari froze, realizing that whatever pokémon had sighted her was large. As large as Mars was tall.

"What pokémon are you?" Akari asked softly to no one in particular.

The ghost-type pokémon floated closer, its one piercing amber eye, hidden by a metallic helmet of sorts, bore down upon Akari, the lace-like frills around its neck completely fanned out. It floated closer, its orb-like body splitting the fog, revealing a massive, fanged mouth along its curtailed abdomen. Its massive hands were curled behind its back, revealing that the pokémon was carrying a strange bag of sorts. A Dusknoir.

"Do you… are you missing your trainer?" Akari attempted, trying to make herself look as unthreatening as possible. That bag doesn't look like a standard satchel. Maybe it's looking for help. Akari crept closer, waiting as the Dusknoir shook its head. "You… don't have a trainer? Okay. Do you… need help?"

The Dusknoir shook its head again, pointing one ghostly hand at the beaten-up bag at its side; specifically at a shiny-looking metal pin affixed on the clasp keeping the bag shut.

"Oookay then. This is going nowhere."

"But you have to be here for something, right?" Yuki tried. He had since hopped off of Mars' back, approaching far more closely than Akari felt comfortable with. "You're an alpha pokémon, huh? Most pokémon are hiding in their dens, but you're right comfortable with the storms going on, aren't you?"

The Dusknoir hesitantly nodded.

"Cool! I like you! Hey! You're a ghost-type pokémon, right? Can you help us find somebody?" Yuki then launched into an explanation about Warden Iscan, pointing aimlessly at the direction the warden's home was supposed to be in. "If you help us find him, we'll give you a bunch of food."

"Yuki! That's a ghost-type pokémon!" Akari shouted, appalled at her friend's sudden change in disposition. "What kind of food could you possibly give a ghost-type pokémon that's not- oh, I don't know- your soul or something?"

The Dusknoir then began to shake, its massive hands moving to its rotund stomach as it… laughed. The Dusknoir angled its head downward and gave Yuki a determined nod, floating in the direction the boy noted.

"I guess they're gonna help us. Cool." Yuki followed the Dusknoir on foot, leaving Akari to recall Mars and follow right behind him. They didn't have to walk very far. Not even a minute after crossing back through the forest did the Dusknoir stop and point one gigantic hand into the fog. "Already? Cool! You're so cool!" Yuki exclaimed.

Akari stepped past him. A familiar voice boomed from the cliffs; one that Akari immediately recognized as belonging to Warden Ingo. A different, much softer voice chimed in, just barely audible over the driving wind. "I can hear the both of them! Up ahead!" Akari ran the rest of the way through the thick woods, exploding out of the undergrowth only to nearly run straight into Ingo. "Warden Ingo!" She then peered past the surprised man only to see a pair of bewildered eyes peering straight at her, the owner hiding behind Ingo's back. "Are you Warden Iscan?"

"…I am? Oh! Uh, yes, I am!"

"That's great! We've been looking for you! My name's Akari!" She held out a hand for Warden Iscan to shake.

"That's wonderful… And what do you mean by 'we'?" Iscan peered past her into the foggy forest. "Is there… somebody else with you?"

"Yeah, my friend, Yuki." She turned around. "C'mon Yuki! I found Warden Iscan!"

"I'm right behind you!" Yuki popped out of the undergrowth, his tunic littered with leaves and vines. "Oh! Cool! Two wardens!" Yuki then turned and began excitedly shaking Akari. "You'll never guess what! I got a new partner!"

"Oh? Who did you manage to wrangle in the second I wasn't paying attention?"

Akari got her answer in the form of the Dusknoir materializing just behind Yuki, the pokémon's gaze immediately tracking over to Iscan before pointing a large finger at the man with an affirmative, ghostly hum. Iscan took one look at the pokémon, opened his mouth, and then proceeded to collapse into the mud.

Yuki laughed weakly, watching helplessly as Ingo crouched low and gathered Iscan into his arms. "Maybe I should've waited then…?"