October 20th, First Year

Akari pushed hard as she climbed the precarious slopes, extending a hand for Yuki to grab. She had followed Ingo's advice, sure that her footing was secure and that she had made out a few hand holds on the way up. Jupiter and Yuki's Staravia fluttered high above on a wild warm front, keeping a watchful eye in case of predatorial pokémon lurking about.

"Please do be careful," Ingo had warned her, handing her a bundle of herbs to take along. "The Coronet Highlands are- to put it mildly- a dangerous station- unyielding to passengers who are unprepared for the terrain and climate and most unforgiving if one is not knowledgeable of where the emergency exits are located. I ask that you exercise utmost caution and that you be vigilant and scan your surroundings at all times."

Akari grimaced, feeling her palm ever so slightly shift, the sharpness of the stones biting into her hand. She winced.

"You okay up there, 'Kari?"

"M'fine." With a burst of power, Akari pushed off of the cliff and dug her fingers into the waterlogged terrain of the nearest handhold, Mars bursting from their pokéball to help pull her up the rest of the way with their careful teeth. "How about you Yuki?"

"All clear. Urf. Watch your feet." Yuki fought his way up the cliff and before long, he was standing beside Akari, his hands firmly on his waist as he gulped in the crisp, cold air. His green eyes bulged at the grandeur sight before them, a strong northern gust threatening to blow him backward as he took a few staggering steps forward. "Now that's a view."

"...Whoa." Akari padded after him, her mouth agape as she too took in the beautiful scenery before her.

Ingo hadn't really described the highlands to the best of his ability. No one really could. The highlands- mountain ranges that reached cloud-breaking highs and abyss-likening lows Akari couldn't even begin to imagine trekking through- were shrouded in a dense fog, a steady drizzle making the earth wet and her own clothes damp. Ginormous trees curled and twisted high into the skies, their branches and roots forming dense corridors of thorny undergrowth and blooming fungi. Leaves in shades of scarlet to chartreuse blanketed the uneven mountain floor, crunching underfoot as the sound of the wind through the trees covered all.

"It's so quiet," Yuki breathed, hunching forward. His Staravia perched on his shoulder, its head low as if he too had been spooked by the change of scenery. "My pops used to tell me stories about the places he's traveled- places all over the world…" Yuki then swallowed, his mouth set in a worried line. "But I don't think he's ever been up high in the mountains here in Hisui. Not like this."

From beside Akari, Mars nosed her neck, gently turning Akari around to face the way they had come. "...The mirelands and the fieldlands look so tiny," Akari murmured. "So far away." She could recognize rain falling heavily upon the mirelands from a distance. She spotted the shimmering Lake Valor first and, so pale that Akari could barely see it, Lake Verity. I almost feel… tinier. If that's even possible. I wish I could take a… a picture. Akari's eyes flickered over to the nearest tree, following the impossibly thick trunk up and up into the sky before she could no longer track where it ended. A faint headache throbbed at the back of her head. This place is impossibly old. How old? Older than… Hisui, maybe? Akari forced herself to not get distracted. "We're here to find some Cleanse Tags. Let's get to work, Yuki."

"Right."

The two teenagers traveled in awestruck silence taking in the untouched glory of the highlands. A fresh breeze stirred the tall grass, Yanmas flittering by as fast as lightning. Akari put her hand out in front of Yuki as a gaggle of Shinx tumbled through the undergrowth directly in front of them, the four cubs paying the children no mind as they continued their game of chase before disappearing into the woods.

Yuki glanced after them. "How far do these woods even go?"

"Who knows? The only way to find that out is to keep going forward."

Going forward led them through the twisting woods, Akari concentrating hard on the soggy map in her hands. She had followed the coast north from the coastlands which had led her to the rocky foothills of a barren slope leading up from the beach, the two teenagers emerging near an inlet where the trail had taken them numerous meters higher above sea level. The waters were rougher there, crashing from the inland river into the bay with a thunderous roar.

"I think we're near Heavenward Lookout," Akari spoke after a while. Sounds seemed to come and go from somewhere within her periphery but whenever Akari looked, the source would temporarily disappear. "Ingo mentioned that the trees die out into grassy hills and then- "

"The river." Yuki pointed to a wide channel that split the foothills from the looming western mountain chain like a twisting serpent, the roar of the waves through the gorge audible even up as high as they were. "Mister Volo mentioned an abandoned quarry. In your letter, right? Where's that at?"

"Riiiight here." Akari pointed first at the map. "Ingo also said that we should be able to see where the quarry is by looking for 'oddly shaped stones'. He didn't say much else other than that."

"That sure helps a lot," Yuki grumbled. He did a quick scan of the horizon before his mouth fell open again. "Oh. Found it."

Akari followed Yuki's point to where three massive white shapes sat on the mountains. They jutted unnaturally into the sky like great teeth glinting in the sun. "We need to go there. Okay. So that means we have to cross the river."

"Star can get me across," Yuki commented almost immediately, the flying-type in question fixing their broad talons into Yuki's shoulders with a proud chirp. "She can't fly for long but it's enough to get me across. What about you, 'Kari?"

Akari jabbed her finger at Jupiter who had been nibbling on some exposed mushrooms at the base of a pine tree. "I'll be fine." She found herself staring at the wide river the closer she and Yuki approached, swallowing at the visage of the foam being whisked away in the streaming current. I don't think we should cross here. The river looks too strong and I don't know how to swim. "Uh, Yuki? I don't think we should cross."

Beside her, Yuki looked just as cowed. "...Me neither. I was only saying it to look brave. Being up close…? Rei would never let me hear the end of it if we tried to cross here. Even if we made it across- "

"You would drown, the both of you."

Both children whipped their heads around, Akari staring wildly through the curtain of rain and fluttering leaves to pick out the owner of the voice she had heard. "H-hello?" she called, a tremor causing her voice to shake. Beside her, Mars' nostrils flared, the flames around its mane flickering and sputtering as it strut forward to protect her. "W-who's there? Show yourself- "

"Hush, the both of you! Now!"

Yuki immediately turned, taking a noisy step through a pile of leaves as he pulled out a flimsy saber from his side. It fell from his shaking hands only to clatter down the cliff. Yuki's face turned as white as a ghost as slowly, he inched in beside Akari who had pulled out her own saber. "Who's there?" Yuki called. "Come out and face us!"

A tall and stocky man stepped out from underneath the shadows of a nearby pine tree, taking great care to pull his hood over his face as he approached the children, his own saber drawn. A saber that held numerous chinks and scratches even up to the hilt. A saber that had been well-used. "For Sinnoh's sake, stop squabbling!" the man hissed. His hands were balled into fists and his eyes gleamed with fury. "You'll attract the attention of angry pokémon and I for one did not sign up to get mauled to death!"

Akari steadied her hand. "You're wearing a Diamond Clan tunic. You…" Akari blinked. Through the haze, she recognized the man's brilliant, curly lavendar hair. "Warden Melli!" She immediately lowered into a bow, Yuki copying her. "Sorry," she muttered, her wet hair immediately falling into her face. "Why do we need to keep quiet?"

Warden Melli fully left the cover of the trees, his sharp eyes darting first to the distant horizon before he paused. He then glowered at the two children before him. "Leave it to Ingo to not mention anything about the dangers of the highlands before sending you here." In a quieter voice, Melli grunted, "Wouldn't be having this issue if he was actually here doing his job."

"Ingo told us to look for the white stones," Akari spoke. "We can see them; we just need to cross the river to get there."

"That's what Ingo neglected to tell you; there is no bridge across. Well, not right now, there's no bridge. It's submerged beneath the river." Melli pointed toward an odd gap in the surging river where the waves swirled and eddied briefly before being carried onward. "We have to wait until low tide to find it and cross."

"'We'? What do you mean 'we'? Did Ingo send you to babysit us?" Akari asked plainly, annoyance clear in her tone "We don't need protection; just directions."

"Clearer directions, yes I know." Melli finally put his saber away. "I don't exactly like the idea of escorting you children anywhere in the highlands- "

"You don't have to," Akari cut in, not liking the man's flippant tone. She remembered all too well how harsh the warden had been during their last interaction. I've changed since then. I'm not a baby. I don't need people looking after me when I can care for myself by myself. "When is low tide?"

"It's already passed," Melli spat back, adjusting the loose hairs around his face. "You missed it by a few hours."

Akari's eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. Her hands instinctively began to shake and fresh tears stung at the corner of her eyes. "What's your problem?" she demanded.

"Problem?" Melli echoed, putting a hand to his chest. "I don't have a problem! If anything, your problem is that you can't even manage to show up on time to cross a river so now I have to make sure that you cross safely so that Ingo doesn't come for my head! He gave me a warning that you two were coming. Should've come himself is what he should've done, honestly."

"Well he couldn't come," Yuki inserted himself, positioning himself in front of Akari and Mars. "He's busy helping out with Lord Basculegion in the coastlands and he can't step away. That's why we're here; there's items here that can protect us from the storms." Yuki's eyes narrowed though his hands were shaking as well as if surprised by his own boldness. "I-if you don't want to help us then you can leave. We'll wait near the river for the next low tide and find our own way to the quarry then. It's not like it's hidden- "

Melli held up his hand for silence, shaking his head. "Leave it to grunts to make dangerous assumptions about an area they've never been in before." Melli pointed at the higher slopes where Akari could just make out buildings cloaked in fog. "See those? Those are the ruins of a civilization that used to inhabit the highlands."

"The Ancient Celesticans," Akari nodded, rolling her eyes. "So? I know about them already."

Melli's eyes glinted, stooping to match her eye level. "Oh, you do, do you? So answer this question for me then: how far do the ruins of that village over there stretch, do you think?"

Akari blinked. "What kind of question is that? How would I even know that?"

"Guess."

"Hmm." Akari peered at the fog-shrouded ruins, her eyes catching on the faraway roofs and walls of the ruins, so impossibly high up in the mountains. "Well, isn't the Temple of Almighty Sinnoh at the top of Mount Coronet? Shouldn't the ruins surround the temple?"

Melli shook his head. "Normally, you'd be right. But if you look all around the highlands- even at the horizon- you'll see that the ruins stretch a lot farther than you think." He pointed again down toward the river near where the bridge had been flooded and that's when Akari finally noticed it: huts. Stone walls peeked out of the river. Ancient paths covered in silt and sediment were barely visible under the creeping undergrowth. "The Ancient Celesticans didn't just disappear as conveniently as some folktales would have you believe," Melli sniffed. "The evidence claims that something terrible happened here. Natural disasters. Pokémon attacks. Something. No." Melli again ventured near the cliffs. "The ruins spread as far as the fieldlands if you know where to look; it's the ruins here in the highlands that are the best preserved."

Akari shivered, remembering Volo's tales about the Ten Plagues and how the ancient king's folly had brought Arceus' wrath down upon the Ancient Celesticans. Seeing the vast wreckage in person- the hidden homes and broken-down wagons tucked away under ancient tree roots- hammered in the knowledge that Akari stood where someone once did hundreds or maybe thousands of years ago. "...Oh."

Melli turned around on his heel, ushering the children onward toward the forests. "'Oh' is right, little girl. I know this land best out of the three of us- even better than Ingo- so yes, I will be leading you to the quarry. I am a warden and it is within my best interests to make sure you two don't get mauled by a wild pokémon on your way there."

Mars snorted and tossed their head before retreating back into their pokéball, clearly fed up with the rain. Neptune took their place, the Prinplup shaking out their feathers as they raised their pointed beak to the sky.

"Have there been any recent pokémon attacks?" Yuki asked as together, both he and Akari fell into a begrudging step behind Melli.

"There has." Melli's voice was cold and clipped. "Ironically near the Wayward Woods; the same forest the Ancient Quarry is located within. A whole merchant caravan had been attacked by a Luxray, I think. About a week ago. That is why you must stay quiet; there's no telling if that horrendous creature is still skulking around."

Akari frowned, immediately turning her eyes to the shadows of the canopy. "Are they okay? The merchants?"

"Two of them perished due to their wounds. The other three were rushed back to the Diamond Hearth for care. I have yet to hear of what happened to them. Just remember- that could be you," Melli emphasized. "Compared to the fieldlands or the mirelands, the highlands are far more dangerous than anything you'll encounter here in Hisui. You may collect pokémon and… what word do you use for your gross activities? You 'train' them? Even if you have pokémon with you, the wild pokémon here are just as strong and fast and most notably, silent."

"I've helped quell the nobles," Akari argued, patting her belt containing her pokémon. "They were incredibly dangerous too and yet my team and I pulled through. We can handle this place."

Melli snorted. "Only if you don't sleep or eat while trekking through the highlands, sure. You're confident, I'll give you that, Galaxy Team grunt." Melli then sent her a nasty glare, his tone soft but full of disdain. "But you lack caution. We're only human and wild pokémon are everywhere even if you can't see them. I'm only taking you two as far as the Ancient Quarry and then right back to here."

"What? We can't go higher?" Yuki protested. "I mean, what if the Ancient Quarry doesn't have the tags? We might need to climb up to the Celestican Ruins."

"I won't take you up there; not until you can best Warden Ingo in a pokémon battle," Melli put forward without missing a beat. "Technically, the lower slopes- where we are now- are part of Ingo's territory- Lady Sneasler's territory if I am reporting it correctly. It has been some time since Ingo has done his route and it has been quite a long time since I have seen Lady Sneasler patrolling her territory. As wardens, it's our job to take note of the territory and the possible dangers within. The only way higher is through Bolderoll Slope- far too dangerous for you two grunts- "

"But not for you, mister I-don't-have-pokémon?" Akari mocked.

"- or through Primeval Grotto and the Sonorous Path," Melli continued, raising his voice louder to drown out Akari's indignant squabbling. "I have no notes on either of those areas and I don't use that path, so we're not going any higher than the Ancient Quarry. That's final. Understand?"

"...Fine." Akari eventually conceded, Yuki eventually echoing her. If it means getting the tags faster, then so be it. I'm so sick and tired of being treated like I can't do anything on my own. "We'll go with you. Happy?"

"I'm never happy."

It had been a few hours before Akari began to hear voices beneath the undergrowth along with the sound of idle chatter. Melli had stopped the party with a quick word for them to be silent, quickly unsheathing the saber at his side. The tall man narrowed his eyes and set off into the thickets in an unsettling manner, disturbingly silent. Minutes later, he returned, irritation clear in the way he slammed his saber back in its sheath.

Akari flinched. "What's going on?"

Melli snorted, waving for them to follow. "Nothing major; just some of Kamado's lackeys wandering around the woods."

Akari immediately turned and tried to peer into the branches. "The Galaxy Team is here? But why?"

Yuki looked thoughtful. "Y'know, Commander Kamado has been trying to establish more camps further out from Jubilife. The higher ups are always hush-hush about it, but they're probably here to scout for land."

"Blondie's right," Melli grumbled. "A whole group of them just looking around doing nothing. I hope they packed provisions because I don't owe Kamado any favors and I won't be out looking for them past dusk. Now keep moving. I'm sure you'll get to rendezvous with them at a later date. We've got more important matters right now." Melli then paused. "Oh, and Akari? Important news for you."

"For me?"

"Yes. Apparently, those scouts were asking about you. Kamado has some need of you back in Jubilife. What for, I have no idea."

But Kamado sent me away. What would he need me for apart from appealing to the other clan leaders? Akari shook her head, her mood souring at the mention of the foul Galaxy Team leader. "Kamado can wait. I don't owe him anything and I'm not entirely eager to go back to Jubilife."

That got Yuki to snort, setting a placating hand on Akari's shoulder. "You two sound exactly alike when it comes to Kamado. But ah, he's not really such a likable person, is he?"

They ventured further into the woods and when the tide had lowered, Melli had led them into a muddy valley and over a rickety wooden bridge, a wide channel of brackish water swirling paces away from the molding boards. With an impatient but gentle hand, Melli made sure that the two of them crossed onto the riverbed before he did, leading them up along the riverbank up to a sloping cliff. Leaves crunched underfoot as they neared closer to the mountains. Melli kept his quiet profile, continuously scanning their surroundings.

"What's the matter? What are you looking for? Wild pokémon?" Akari asked after a while. Is he scared of something? Ooh, I'd love to find out what I can tease him about! It'll serve him right for being such a jerk earlier!

"Something like that. That Luxray is still around, I'm certain. I've seen some odd pokémon hanging around this place before. Little things, all of them, no bigger than a Ponyta. Almost all of them float and one of them was this peculiar pink color. Bright pink with fluttering wings and- ah. We're here."

The Ancient Quarry was a bit of an odd place with its strange shapes and silent, moss-covered ruins. Akari's eyes lingered on the broken-down stone buildings that crumbled into a massive pit, forgotten tools half-buried in the tall grass. The white rock faces that seemed to reach into the sky were cut straight- boxy almost- the remnants of a massive geode sparkling in the weak sunlight. And as Akari peered further, her eyes made out what looked to be crude scaffolding where the bottom of the pit sank even deeper, obscured in the shadows of a looming cave.

"How far does the quarry go?"

"Deep," Melli muttered. "I've never gone past the entrance; nobody has according to record." At Akari's eyebrow raise, Melli pointedly turned his eyes away. "This place is considered to be religiously cursed. As a devout follower of Almighty Sinnoh, I refuse to enter. If you two must go inside, step lightly and don't touch anything that you don't need to. I will be waiting out here- " Melli sauntered over to a sprouting tree stump and crossed one leg over the other- "for you two to finish. Come and find me when you've found whatever it is you're looking for."

"Of course." Yuki set one hand on Akari's sleeve. "Let's get this done before it gets dark out."

"Right." As Akari picked her way down the narrow quarry ledges, she paused, sighting a portly shape ambling near the mouth of the cave. "Yuki. Hold on. There's something alive in there."

"Huh?"

"Right there." Akari peered closer. The portly shape poked its head out from the shadows, one massive hand swooping down to scoop something off of the ground. "That has to be a pokémon. But what's it doing here? It must have heard us talking on the cliff."

"Maybe it didn't?"

"Hmm. I'm gonna check it out." Before Yuki could protest, Akari ushered Neptune onward as she slid down the cliff toward the shadows of the cave. Her hands trembled. Beside her, Neptune strode, its cobalt feathers lifting along its neck. "Stay calm, buddy. We're gonna be okay." Akari ventured deeper into the cavern, her eyes immediately catching on the sheer amount of crystals growing from the ceiling. "Amethysts. And quartz, too… Cool."

Neptune turned on their feet, spreading their flippers wide as they clicked their beak. Akari turned to face whatever had startled her partner, her breath catching in her throat when the strange pokémon finally made its presence known.

The pokémon floated up from the stone floors, its singular red eye zeroing in on her as it grew to tower over Akari. Neptune readied an attack but before they could make contact, the strange pokémon grabbed Neptune in one ghostly hand and lifted the pokemon clear off of the floor, a displeased grunt echoing throughout the stone cavern.

Its head resembled an old gilded helmet, wispy fluttering veils of lace and torn cloth encircling its throat. Its portly body was nearly see-through amongst the shadows, but up close, Akari could clearly make out the fanged mouth that split the pokémon's belly, two metallic protrusions above glittering just like the pokémon's singular eye. The hands that easily gripped Neptune's small body were connected to two strong and sturdy arms, a thick fog rolling from the pokémon's sturdy body. A ghost-type.

"Let Neptune go!" Akari shouted. Mars appeared from their pokéball, the reddish flames along their back burning hot. Blue flames poured from Mars' back and tail, illuminating the strange pokémon in an eerie light. Akari could've sworn she saw something else flash behind the ghost-type. Some kind of reddish light or gem.

The ghost-type pokémon readjusted their grip on Neptune and without batting an eye at Mars, pointed one hand further into the ruins at what looked to be a section of crumbled ruins. The pokémon then proceeded to drop Neptune onto the floor like a broken doll before floating off further into the cave's shadows. It turned, gesturing with another hand for Akari to follow.

"'Kar?" Yuki had skidded up behind her. "I got worried when I lost sight of… you." Yuki's voice dropped. "What is that thing?"

"I don't know."

The strange ghost-type pokémon continued to gesture. Neptune made an angry squawking noise and ran forward to attack, the strange pokémon easily vanishing into thin air. As Neptune barreled past, the strange pokémon reappeared, looking both perturbed and amused.

"Should we follow it?" Akari whispered. "It hasn't attacked me or anything."

"That has to be a ghost-type pokémon, Akari. Ghost-types are anything but good news. Maybe it just wants to eat you. You know? Steal your soul."

"It would've already tried it then- when you weren't here," Akari pointed out. She recalled Neptune and slowly approached the ghost-type who had started to cross its arms. "...Hello there… big fellow… What exactly do you want from me?"

The ghost-type nodded to itself but not before it ushered Akari on until it had led them deeper into the ruins, its glowing chest protrusions shedding some light on the broken down support beams of the quarry.

Like the sunken cathedral in the mirelands, moss and mold coated everything that had been left behind. Pickaxes, shovels, maps. Ancient torches unlit, turned into dust. Archways and ladders crumbled. All around them was more and more proof that ancient people had been there and that they had all gone, vanished into thin air to a place even Volo hadn't been able to describe.

The ghost-type turned a corner and gestured them further until it had reached what looked to be an intact room, pointing at a felled beam in the middle of the room where a hole in the ceiling let in a shaft of sunlight.

"Wait… Wait just a moment!" Akari eagerly found her way across the room, the ghost-type effortlessly hefting up the pillar to reveal- "Cleanse Tags!" They hung from the cracked pillar in clusters, little paper ribbons attached to the rusted bells that fasted them to the beam. "There's a whole bunch of them right here!" Akari was about to take one before she restrained herself. She turned a wary eye on the ghost-type pokémon who floated amiably right behind her. "You. You deliberately led me here. You were lingering around the cave, weren't you?"

The ghost-type nodded. It lifted up another beam and shook a handful of tags loose before setting the beam back down. In the dust, it used a finger to make a drawing.

Akari blinked. "That looks like… well, it looks like what Mister Emmet looks like right now. You know Emmet?" When the creature blinked, Akari found herself nodding. "You must've heard us talking then, so that means that you followed us from the coastlands to help us, huh."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, 'Kar." Yuki bid her back by her sleeve. "I mean, we really ought to take those tags while they're here, but how do we know this pokémon is friendly?" Yuki straightened out, not quite meeting the ghost-type's gaze. "Does Ingo's Chandelure know you or something?"

The strange pokémon cocked its head to the side before hesitantly nodding.

"It would make sense," Akari pointed out. "Chandelure is a ghost-type and it looks like this pokémon is a ghost-type." Akari immediately grimaced. "That would mean that Ingo sent a bodyguard to keep an eye on us! Ugh! That jerk! I'm gonna let him have it when we get back to the coastlands!" Akari continued to collect the Cleanse Tags, the strange pokémon helping until Akari's bag and pockets had been stuffed close to bursting. "There! Now there's plenty! Do you think we'll need these?"

"Probably not- whoa!"

Akari had gone to pick up more when she had suddenly been picked off of the ground, the strange pokémon hefting both her and Yuki upward while its eye scanned the floor, the ruff around its neck flaring out. The strange pokémon made an odd noise, fog rolling out of the mouth in its belly as it continued to scan the ruins. After a moment, it begrudgingly set them both back down, one hand conjuring a flame to illuminate the ruins even more.

"What the heck! What'd you do that for?" Akari peered into the shadows, the hairs along the back of her neck standing straight up. A terrible cold feeling- sticky and sharp- set into her gut and she found herself involuntarily reaching for Yuki. "We should leave- something's not right here."

The strange pokémon made an affirming noise and without a fuss, grabbed both of the teenagers and hoisted them onto its shoulders as though they weighed as much as a handful of feathers. Cold like ice, Akari felt the strange pokémon's ghostly hands slightly phase through her torso as it floated ever higher toward the roof of the ruins.

A dark shadow floated from the abyss of the ruins, its silhouette waving about like a tendril, its greater mass shaped like a clawed hand. It grabbed about, reaching and grasping at nothing. When that shadowy hand neared the strange pokémon carrying Akari, the strange pokémon- Dusknoir, right, Akari's mind supplied- hummed and let the fire it had been carrying drop, immediately banishing the shadow.

To Akari's immediate horror, the shadowy hand retreated but not before letting out a ghastly wail. Dusknoir, with their hands tied holding the two children, resorted to floating them out of the ruins and into the sunlight. Akari immediately wriggled free and scrambled away from the ruins, her eyes catching the glint of something blue- eyes- staring straight at her.

"This way!"

Akari jolted at hearing Melli's voice calling for them. The older warden met them halfway as he extended his arms to reach for them. As he clasped Akari's hand in his own, the man paused.

"What in the name of Almighty Sinnoh is that thing?"

"You mean the big guy with the frills?" Yuki spoke up, scrambling up the cliff with the aforementioned pokémon assisting him. "He's friendly!" Yuki then reached into his pockets and pulled out a handful of Cleanse Tags. "See? He helped us find these!"

"No. That's not…. Those." Melli helped Akari clear the cliff before pointing a shaking finger at the mouth of the ruin cave. "Those… things. They seem familiar."

When Akari turned back, she only blinked. "Those? I know those things. They're… um. Well, I don't know the name for them, but they exist in the mirelands too." Akari watched as one of the slender black pokémon floated down from the sky, its odd body twisting to stare at her with its one bulging eye. She had seen them before near the sunken cathedral. "I don't really know what to call them. They're weird but I've never had any issues with them." She wouldn't tell Melli that she had a spare one kept in a pokéball.

Melli got to his feet, his face twisting with disgust and confusion when a handful of the black creatures floated down to hover near the man's hair, a quiet coo echoing amongst them. They clustered around Melli's hands and followed him as he retreated further from the ruins. Eventually, Melli's scowl softened to a thin-lipped frown. "I don't believe I've seen these creatures… but I know somebody who has talked about them in the past."

"Who?" Akari asked.

"Warden Calaba. Of the Pearl Clan." Upon making sure that both children were in good straits, Melli shooed them away from the ruins and back onto the forested trail. "She's mentioned them several times to Adaman during her tenure in the mirelands. Her late noble, Lord Ursaluna-" Melli balled his fist, his eyes immediately flickering to Akari with unrestrained rage- "had a legendary sense of smell. As I've been told, those creatures- unknown whatever they may be- they allegedly have a particular smell to them."

"Unknown?" Yuki paused. "You know… I think… Rei's parents sometimes go to Johto and I think they've talked about pokémon matching these things. Whatever they are."

"Whatever the case, you two should be getting back to the coastlands and more importantly, out of my hair." But even as Melli ushered them into the woods, the older man's eyes lingered on the floating creatures that stared after them as they went. "... Adaman should probably hear about this. Those ruins haven't been active in a long, long time."

Akari turned her gaze away from the ruins, noting with faint discomfort that the Dusknoir she had encountered had elected to follow them, its massive body only a few paces behind Yuki as it looked passively at the reddening trees.

"Go, Champion Of Sinnoh," spoke an unknown voice, slow and solemn, barely heard over the gusting winds. "Take Your Gifts Of Purity And Bestow Them Upon The Peoples Of The Coastlands For They Shall Be Free Of Creation's Tampered Influence."

Akari whipped around, her head beginning to ache. She opened her mouth to speak but paused. Nobody was around her except for Yuki, Melli, and the Dusknoir. Her eyes zipped toward the sky. Nothing. She remained quiet, waiting for the voice to speak again. Silence. Akari continued to trudge forward, meeting the Dusknoir's confused and apprehensive gaze. I wasn't hearing things; that had to have been something; something really important. But who was I hearing? Akari stared at the winding horizon, dread building in her gut upon realizing that she would be returning to the coastlands and to that matter, imminent danger.

"Is everything okay, 'Kar?"

Akari straightened out upon realizing that both Melli and Yuki had asked her something. "Uh, sorry. I got caught up on something. Ha ha… ha. What's up?"

Yuki gave her a withering look. "Well, Warden Melli was asking what you were going to use all those tags for. We don't need that many, do we?"

"We don't," Akari affirmed. "Really, only those of us going to tackle Lord Basculegion will need them Myself, Ingo, Jaku- "

"Jaku?" Melli's eyebrows immediately shot up. "Her? Adaman has her quelling the nobles with you? I could've sworn he specifically forbade her from helping."

It was now Akari's turn to raise her eyebrows. "Adaman doesn't have Jaku helping; he exiled her from the Diamond Clan is what Jaku told me."

Melli completely stopped in his tracks. "What on earth are you talking about, little girl? Adaman wouldn't exile Jaku; he has no reason to." The more he spoke, the more Melli began to grit his teeth. "Adaman's quite sure that Jaku's status as a chosen one guarantees that she's off doing something holy- something along those lines. And it was Jaku who told you that Adaman exiled her?"

Akari slowly explained the older woman's recounting of her brief visit to the mirelands- the attack on the Sludge Encampment, of Jaku being attacked by a strange figure, of being denied access when seeking refuge in the Diamond Encampment, and of eventually seeking help from the Pearl Encampment instead. "That's what Jaku told me anyway. I don't really know how much of that is true, but Mister Ingo and Mister Emmet seem to believe her. Mister Emmet was there for all of it but he's…" Akari winced. There's no way I can tell Melli that Mister Emmet is a pokémon now! "Mister Emmet is… under the weather. He's sick." She shot an apologetic glance at Yuki who nodded.

"Is that so?" Melli was quiet for a long time. When he spoke, his tone was unnaturally quiet. "I'm going straight to Adaman to relay what I've seen today. As much as I don't like being anywhere near you, beholder of Almighty Sinnoh, what you've said about recent events is… worrisome. Adaman wouldn't banish Jaku like that- at least, not without the rest of the Diamond Clan hearing about it. Even I didn't know and something like that is- frankly- a big thing."

"I agree." It was Yuki who had spoken that time. "Something's off here. Doesn't it feel that way?" He glanced at the dark spiral of clouds at the summit of Mount Coronet. "I don't really think about what happened up there to make those clouds or why exactly all these distortions have been breaking out. I wonder what caused the nobles to go crazy the way they are. And you know, isn't there some freakishly large distortion right next to where the Diamond Encampment is?"

"There is. It doesn't reach the encampment though," Melli pointed out. "Come to mention it, I haven't heard any news from Adaman recently."

"Okay. I've made up my mind. I'll go with you." Yuki switched his satchel around and moved so that he was directly behind Melli. "I want to see what's going on in the mirelands. You can make it back to the coastlands on your own, right Akari?"

"Hold on! I didn't agree to babysit you!"

Akari only laughed at the two's antics. I'll be fine going back. I have my pokémon and this time, I know the trail to get back. She nodded. She then began to realize with a burgeoning sense of apprehension that it had been Volo that had decided to do something about Jaku when the woman had failed to show up during their attack on the Sludge Encampment. Volo never did tell me exactly what he did. Maybe… maybe it wasn't Jaku he went after. Maybe he went after Adaman instead.

October 22nd, First Year

"I'm back!" Akari eagerly pushed open the door to the lodgings where Ingo had been staying, surprised to find the man in question, Emmet, and Iscan grouped around a small wooden table. "What's all this?"

"Welcome back Akari," Ingo rasped distractedly, carding his fingers through his disheveled silver hair. "We were merely going over the plan for locating Lord Basculegion. The last time we happened upon their arena, the lord was nowhere to be seen as you know."

"Which is even more odd when you explain it like that," Iscan chimed in, pushing out a chair for Akari to sit in as the young teenager dropped into the seat. "Lord Basculegion is always somewhere near his arena. To not be present makes me think that he's out looking for something. He only really leaves when it's the full moon or when there's a gathering of the nobles but that's on new moons."

"Well, I have something that might make locating him easier." Akari carefully pulled out a handful of Cleanse Tags and laid them upon the table. "Got all of these from the ruins in the Coronet Highlands. My friend helped get them for me."

"Friend?" Iscan blinked. "You mean the blonde-haired boy who went with you? Did he come back with you?"

"Yuki? No, not him. He went back to the mirelands with Warden Melli of the Diamond Clan. I mean him." Akari pointed over toward a dark section of the lodgings. The Dusknoir she had met in the ruins had followed her back to the coastlands, having taken to lingering in her shadow. "You can't see him, but there's a ghost-type pokémon in here."

"A ghost?" Iscan immediately recoiled in his chair, halfway on his feet. "There's a ghost in here? Where?"

Chandelure emerged from her pokéball and put one tendril to her glassy frame as if offended. She then turned and focused her fiery gaze on the corner where Dusknoir lurked before nodding.

"He's okay. He helped get the tags. He just… doesn't like being visible to humans all that much," Akari explained, reminding herself that Warden Iscan was not at all fond of ghosts.

Ingo nodded politely. "I see. Well, congratulations are in order for managing such a task. Thank you very much for your quick journey in securing these."

"Thanks, Ingo." Once things had calmed down and Iscan had been wrangled back into his seat, Akari listened as both wardens began to explain their plan for quelling Lord Basculegion. "So we're going to… trap him like a netted fish is what I'm understanding?"

"Exactly." Iscan tapped one finger on the center of the sea. "Lord Basculegion tends to stick to one general area; one for each season. If we can figure out which location that is, we should be able to close in and shepherd him back to his proper arena."

"And once having arrived at that particular station- " Ingo continued, stowing his hat back onto his head- " it will be our duty to quell Lord Basculegion once I grant us passage to the Sunken Arena using the power Mesprit gifted me."

"Did somebody say the Sunken Arena?" The door to Ingo's dwelling was gently pushed open as a tall, lithe woman stepped inside. With a Pearl Clan tunic stuck to her skin and rainwater dripping from her fair hair, Akari could only stare as the mysterious woman took a seat directly next to Warden Iscan who looked just as surprised as Akari felt.

"We did indeed, Warden Palina," Ingo continued, letting his narrowed gaze linger on Iscan for a moment longer. "We were discussing the means of how we plan to derail Lord Basculegion's current frenzy."

"Ah, I see. So that's why you're scouting out the area." Palina removed the set of goggles from her face, looking rather thoughtful. "I was wondering why your friend has been lingering near the cape for such a long time. I at first thought that maybe you had sent them, Iscan."

"Me?" Iscan blubbered. He then paused. "Wait. Ingo. We didn't send anybody out to inspect the arena after what happened last time."

"Oh? I was referring to that woman who happened to be in your party last time," Palina elaborated. "You were telling me about the plan the last time we… ran into each other, Iscan," Palina murmured in a low tone, never dropping her gaze from the man beside her. "I was watching over my route some time ago and I happened to see her sailing across the sea on the back of a massive ocean pokémon."

"Miss Jaku?" It was Ingo's turn to look befuddled. "This woman. Jaku. Did they look to be in any harm?"

"Not quite. They were sitting on the back of an ocean pokémon. An ugly thing with blue and red scales." Palina's expression immediately soured. "I'm aware that people of Gingko Landing have been going missing. I also know that the pokémon that's sailing with your friend, Jaku- whatever it is- I've seen that pokémon lurking around Lord Basculegion's resting ground recently. I suspect that it's been diving after the people tracked in the wreckage at the sea floor."

"You said you saw them sailing across the sea," Akari repeated. "Which direction were they sailing from?"

"The open ocean. Perhaps, they could have come from the direction of the Firespit Archipelago or Sand's Reach. Your friend didn't look too injured. I didn't make contact with them but I lost sight of them after they passed under the remains of the Veilstone Isthmus. I partly came looking to see what they were up to with their sneaking around."

Ingo, Akari, and Iscan met glances across the table. Akari clasped her hands together, feeling her fingers begin to tremble. Something strange really is going on, isn't it? Quietly, Akari began to relay to the table the events of her trip in the highlands. Upon hearing her words, Akari noticed that Ingo had turned his gaze to stare at the roaring seas some distance away.

"...If I am to hold Miss Jaku responsible to her dedication upon being an asset to our team, then we must have faith that she is- as Warden Palina puts it- 'scouting' the area. I believe that we should all join our tracks together. Information is our best ally, after all."

"Right," Akari nodded. "Warden Palina, have you seen Jaku recently? After she got to the coast? Do you know where she is right now?"

Palina immediately leaned over the map and let her finger skim over the thin sandbanks southeast of the Trail Encampment. "Her and that pokémon she was riding… I saw them disappear into the forests to the north of here. They avoided going near the beach at all. Lord Arcanine helped me track them, but according to him, the trail disappeared near the Suncrest Encampment. And that was a day ago, I'm afraid."