Chapter 1: Disturbance

Ripples still lingered in the endless lake of Palkia's Realm. It's sole inhabitant having awakened from a distubance in space having shaked his entire realm.

'How long had it been?' The eternal dragon wondered. Keeping track of time was hardly a priority for the immortal keeper of space, as displeased as his counterpart would be if he ever heard about it. But no amount of time could ever make Palkia forget this feeling. A ripple through spacetime, making his whole realm shake.

"You felt it as well, I assume." came from Palkia's mental link with his counterpart. Dialga feeling it as well erased the last doubt from Palkia's mind.

"I did..."

"1034 years since last time. An event that has long passed from history to legend among mortals." Dialga answered, even if Palkia hadn't actually asked. Palkia knew he could've gotten the time down to the last second from Dialga, but the time-keeper knew very well he wouldn't care for such details. Observing all of space in the present took up most of the white dragons mind, while Dialga held knowledge of both past and future.

"My memory may not be eternal like yours, but even I could tell there was something different about this one." Palkia stated "Am I right to assume you wish to share my visions to answer your question."

"You assumptions are on point as always." came the answer from Dialga.

The space-keepers pearls then lit up, and the lake flooding his real began lighting up. Soon the light turned to images, and within seconds, Palkia's realm showed a map of all space. He wasted no time looking through it, before pinpointing the source of the disturbance.

"Interesting..." he mumbled.

"Care to share your findings?" Dialga asked.

Palkia remained focused on his map for a minute longer before giving his answer.

"There are more than one human this time."

The inhabitants of the southern Badlands could never reach the ocean. Instead, a seemingly endless sea of sand was all those who ventured further south would find. Soon the searing desert sun would be setting, and it's inhabitants knew this scorched land would soon be covered in a chilling darkness. Through this barren wasteland, a young duo was venturing. A dark canine, with bone-like armor, and a pair of googles to avoid being constantly pestered by the sand. Holding a steady pace behind him was a small iron-clad creature, though not able to keep up with her partners pace.

"I knew we could do it." came from the Houndour, seemingly being as happy as he had ever been. Dashing through the dunes, he couldn't wait to report their latest success back at the station. Speaking of "their", the Houndour realized he had to wait for his partner to catch up, which brought his dash to a grinding halt.

As the Aron made her way over the dunes, she saw her partner had finally stopped to wait for her. She hid a brief sigh of relief, as looking for a lost partner was not something she wished wished to spend these last precious hours of daylight on. Especially if a sandstorm happened to brew up.

"I know this is a big day and all." she grumbled as she caught up "But the possibility of getting lost out here is still very much present."

"C'mon Latenna" the Houndour said "you can't really be so cold after we've completed our first proper mission."

"It was a simple item search, Dart. Even if Rainy Orbs are in high demand around these parts." she dismissed.

"And we were allowed to venture into the Sea of Sand to fetch it." Dart said, his smile never faltering. "This is our first step into doing proper ranger work."

"And if we don't get back home it will be our last as well." Latenna said "You know those silly googles you wear might protect you from some harsh conditions, but if a sandstorm rolls in we will get hopelessly lost."

"Dad gave me these when I joined the rangers!" an insulted Dart said "If you weren't lucky enough to be born resistant to sandstorms you would never take them off either."

Latenna sighed. She was in fact very happy after completing the mission. After well over a year with the glorified chores that were E rank missions, and a few D ranks which only had them run into the weakest of feral Pokemon, they had finally gotten to try a C. And not only had they been allowed to try it, they had succeeded as well.. But she was determined to keep cool, and get both the Rainy Orb and her hotheaded partner home safely, before letting herself get distracted. When she had finished this train of thought, she realized her partner was out of sight again.

"Latenna, you might want to see this." came from close by.

Wondering what her partner had dug up this time, she reluctantly went to check it out. This reluctance quickly faded however, when she saw what he had found. In the sand, laid the unconscious body of a Trapinch.

"He is still breathing, and he does not seem to be feral either." Dart said, motioning towards the tattered scarf around the Trapinch's neck. He then tried to shake the Trapinch awake, but got no reaction from it.

Latenna took a deep breath, and tried to gather her thoughts. Her partner seemed to be right about the Trapinch, but she once again needed to be the one who kept a level head, and plan out the rescue.

"You're not thinking about leaving him, are you?" Dart shouted at his idle partner.

"Of course not!" Latenna answered. She didn't like it, but she had to trust her partner to be able to find the way on his own. "You have to run ahead, and get help. I will carry him, but my progress will be slow. I will never make it back in time on my own. So whatever you do, don't stop before you have gotten help."

As Latenna got the unconscious mon onto her back, she saw Dart still staring. In spite of his habit of outpacing his partner, the thought of leaving her behind made him very uncomfortable.

"GO!" Latenna yelled, mixing a weak metal sound into her voice to really hammer in the point. This was enough to snap Dart out of his thoughts, and he immediately resumed his mad dash, though this time fueled by fear and determination. The heavily loaded Aron started walking in her partners tracks, though it was not long before she found herself all alone. Keeping a snails pace through the sand, the Aron knew that all she could do was to pray for this gamble to work, and do her best to meet her rescue halfways. That was when she felt the wind picking up, and saw a cloud of dust in the distance.

'You've got to be kidding me!'

'Dart might be impatient…'

'…and often acts before thinking…'

'...and can be a total airhead…'

Latenna's thoughts would eventually reach the conclusion that Dart always pulled through when it counted, but the list of flaws she saw in her friend did not leave her free of worry. Luckily, the tracks she saw from him led the right way, at least the ones she saw before the wind whisked them away. Not like it mattered much anyway. The sandstorm was catching up with her at an alarming rate, and once it hit her she wouldn't be able to see much anyway.

As the storm hit her, she had fully accepted that the fate of both herself, and her unconscious passenger, hinged on her partners success. Her partners trail had long since been whisked away by the winds, and seeing anything in front of her was a lost cause. If only she had bothered to learn how other steels could feel magnetic forces, essentially giving them an inner compass, she could at least be sure she was going the right way. Though there was no use wallowing in self-pity now. There was no way to navigate this storm, her only hope was to try digging for cover.

Or so she thought. Trying to burrow in the fine sand proved just as hopeless as navigating the storm. This final plan for enduring the storm failing, was the straw that finally broke the usually composed Pokemon. She wanted to cry, but the dry sand ensured no tears could be formed. She wanted to bang her head against something, but there was nothing solid around to hit. In the end, she could do nothing but give up.

And after the longest minute of her life...

"All right girl, that's enough." came a deep voice from seemingly nowhere.

Latenna, having just a moment ago lost the will to move on, jumped at the sound of the familiar voice. A large, battle-scarred Rhydon emerged from the ground.

"I'll take it from here…" he said with a gentle voice nobody would expect from his intimidating frame.

"Father…" Latenna sobbed.