Out in the West Province, Dylan and the theater team were investigating the mysterious stakes that Ashton had told them about. According to the legend of the Treasures of Ruin, the stakes were part of a seal that each of the treasures were contained behind, with four seals being hidden across the land. While the group was unsure of the legend was true, Dylan knew from experience than when it came to Pokémon, stories of the past always had a bit of truth in them.

"There, is see one!" Hohma shouted, pointing to the top of a nearby cliff.

Ohara held up her phone to get a better look with its camera, with Hohma pulling out the book to compare images. "Yeah, that looks like it," the musician nodded.

"I'll get up there and take a closer look," Dylan said, calling out Miraidon to his side. He hopped on its back and with a powerful leap the duo was up where the stake was.

"I can sense a Dark aura coming from this stake," Aurora noted, holding up a paw to examine it. The stake had a strange orange glow to it, but even Dylan could feel the weird energy radiating off it. As soon the Lucario touched the object, it burst in a flash of light, Aurora seizing the stake and rending it from the ground with her strength.

"You okay up there?" Aliquis called.

"We're fine! Aurora just pulled the stake from the ground!" Dylan called. "We're coming back down now!"

One jump from Miraidon later and the team was examining the stake up close. "Amazing! This would make for a great prop for our play," Ohara said.

"Or we could give it to a museum for display," Hohma suggested.

"Either way, we know this part of the legend is true now. There are going to be more stakes like this one around the area," Aliquis said.

"Then allow me to guide us to the rest of them. I can track the energy this stake emitted with my aura," Aurora said. She closed her eyes and concentrated, letting out a cold breath before her paw glowed the same color the stake had before. "I'm sensing a bit of Ice in the aura as well. Fighting moves will be useful against this treasure when we find it."

"I'll let my Flamigo take lead then," Aliquis nodded.

"Fuecoco can help too!" Hohma said, his partner Pokémon giving a cry of approval.

With that the quartet spread out across the province, Aurora using her powers to find more stakes like the first one, adding up to eight in total. Once Aliquis' Meowscarada uprooted the final stake with a Night Slash, there was a sudden rumbling in the area, making the group tense before it quickly stopped.

"What was that?" Hohma asked nervously.

"If I had to guess, the seal these stakes were tied to was just broken," Dylan said. "Aurora, can you-?"

"Already on it. Head to the coast- that's where the aura is emanating from now," Aurora cut him off.

With a shared nod the team followed the Lucario to where the seal was located. Down on a cliffside sat a large glowing carving on the wall. Aliquis called out his Flamigo while Hohma and Ohara called out Quaxwell and Fuecoco respectively, ready to fight whatever Pokémon was waiting behind the seal.

"Okay, time to see what the Treasures of Ruin are really like…" Dylan said before he and Aurora placed a hand on the seal. The glyph glowed brightly before breaking away, Aurora pulling Dylan back quickly as something inside immediately jumped out to attack.

"Flamethrower!"

"Low Sweep!"

"Wing Attack!"

The theater trio ordered their Pokémon to retaliate against their new foe, only to have them brutally knocked back as the creature within the rubble let out a yowl. "Flamigo, use your wings to blow the dust away!" Aliquis ordered.

"Flamigo!" the Pokémon replied, kicking up a gust of wind to clear the air.

The Treasure of Ruin glared with piercing blue eyes at the humans and their companions, its posture ready to pounce at any moment. It looked like a mix between a snow leopard and a weasel, the broken halves of a sword sticking out of its mouth like fangs. Aurora made the first move, holding up her paws as she tried to approach the treasure. "We do not intend to harm you, friend. We only wished to break the seal that bound you. There is no need for violence," she said.

The treasure just growled, "Chien… Pao!" before sending out a pulse of dark energy, pushing Aurora back. "Chien-Pao! Chien-Pao!"

"Is that its name? Chien-Pao?" Hohma wondered.

"Clearly it is not one for talking," Aurora grunted, steadying herself for the fight.

Chien-Pao had other plans, however, and quickly ran off, leaving an icy trail behind it. "Where's it going!?" Ohara gasped.

"Wherever it ends up, it could hurt people and their Pokémon if it makes it to the one of the nearby towns," Aliquis said with worry. "Darn it! I knew I should have stocked up on Fast Balls before leaving campus this morning!"

"Let's not dwell on what we should have done, but what we can do now," Dylan replied, calling out Miraidon. "Hop on! We have an angry snow weasel to catch."

"What's a weasel?" Hohma questioned before the futuristic Pokémon raced after their target at full speed.

[***]

Finding Chien-Pao was as simple as following the icy trail it left in its wake, along with getting directions from any unfortunate Trainers that stood in the treasure's way. Its path of destruction lead the team to a canyon, large black banners with flame designs marking the entrance.

"Wait!" Ohara shouted, making Miraidon screech to a halt.

"What is it?" Dylan asked.

"This is one of the Team Star bases," Ohara explained. "You know, those delinquents that boss around the other students at the academy?"

"…And?" Dylan raised an eyebrow.

"If Chien-Pao went in there, we'll be following it into an ambush by Team Star for sure," Ohara said. "Wouldn't it be safer to wait here and let them take care of it?"

"I'm not going to let a dangerous Legendary that we unleashed run free, even if Team Star is up ahead," Dylan said. "You have to do what's right to help everyone, even jerks like them."

"A-And I don't think all of Team Star are bad guys. Maybe they could even help us catch Chien-Pao," Hohma suggested.

"Or they could catch Chien-Pao and use it themselves," Aliquis frowned.

Dylan sighed, hopping off of Miraidon. "Look, if you guys want to stay here and not go further, that's fine. If Chien-Pao comes back this way, you can cut it off at his point." He pulled out two of his Poké Balls, summoning out Vex and Poli'ahu. "These two will keep you safe while your Pokémon recover. I can count on you, right?"

"Noivern!" Vex nodded.

"Ninetails!" Poli'ahu cheered.

"We'll do our best. Stay safe, Dylan," Aliquis nodded.

Dylan gave them a small smile before racing ahead on Miraidon, calling out Aurora to join him as they approached the Team Star base. The Trainer noticed his breath starting to show in the air as the temperature dropped, with Miraidon taking notice of its rider's condition and diverting some power to warm Dylan up. "Heh, a Pokémon with heated seats. Imagine that," he mused.

The change in temperature became obvious as they arrived at the gates to the base… or at least, what was left of them. Multiple Team Star members were gathered in front of a massive snow pile, all of them in either distress or confusion.

"What are we supposed to do now? The entire base has been snowed in!"

"And the boss is still inside there, helping everyone get to safety!"

"Giacomo is so cool for that!"

"Hey!" Dylan shouted, getting everyone's attention.

"Woah! What kinda Cyclizar is that!?" a grunt asked.

"This isn't Cyclizar, its Miraidon," Dylan corrected. "What happened here, and have any of you seen a Pokémon with a sword in its mouth?"

"All the snow is because of that Pokémon," a female grunt answered. "It busted down the doors of our base and started picking fights with any Pokémon it found. When our boss tried to fight it off, the thing let out a cry and started an avalanche!"

"It even had the audacity to start playing in the snow after that!" one grunt exclaimed.

"It seems that Chien-Pao is just as battle-hungry as it is a prankster," Aurora mused.

"We're here to capture that Pokémon and keep it from harming anyone else," Dylan explained. "You guys just keep out of our way and we'll get you your base back, okay?"

The grunts just gave Dylan a wide berth as he and his Pokémon trudged up into the snowscape that was the Team Star base. He helped out any grunts that he found stuck in the snow, but there was no sign of their leader, Giacomo, nor of Chien-Pao. Aurora kept up her guard, letting her aura reach out through the snow to find wherever their target was hiding.

It was Inari that brought their enemy out, the Zoroark bursting out of his ball to bat away a volley of icicles Chien-Pao shot their way. "Master, the evil one is here!" Inari shouted, snarling at his foe.

Chien-Pao returned the snarl, fur bristling as frost gathered around its fangs. Aurora launched an Aura Sphere at the foe, nailing it in the face before closing the distance between them with a Meteor Mash, Inari coming in closely behind with a Flamethrower. "That it, guys, keep it up!" Dylan cheered.

"Hey! What're you doing here!?" a voice shouted. Dylan looked over to see a Team Star member, though his outfit looked more like that of a DJ than the grunts. A laptop was held tightly in the teen's grip, his shoes sliding on the snow a bit as he came to a stop. "You can't just waltz into the Dark Crew base, especially with that thing making a mess of the place."

"That thing is a legendary Treasure of Ruin, and I'm here to make sure it doesn't hurt anyone else," Dylan replied. "I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you're Giacomo, right?"

The teen nodded. "Yeah, that's me. Leader of the Team Star Dark Crew. I don't appreciate a student from the academy barging in here, but if you're going to stop that Pokémon from burying everything in snow… then at least let me defend my home turf with ya!"

Giacomo opened up his laptop and pressed a few keys, causing the speakers around the base to boom to life with a funky music track. The Dark Crew leader smirked as he pulled out a Timer Ball, tossing it out with a shout, "Take this sucker out, Kingambit!"
Kingambit was a Pokémon Dylan had never seen before, appearing as an evolution of Bisharp. It was larger, looking like a shogun in a perpetual sitting stance, its power evident from looks alone. "Aurora, Inari, time for an unexpected team up with Kingambit!" Dylan called.

His Pokémon gave nods of agreement before taking a stand next to their new ally, Chien-Pao giving a roar before firing off more icicles from the frigid air. Aurora blasted through the icy projectiles with Aura Spheres, while Inari dashed through the snow to attack with Shadow Claws. Kingambit readied his blades with a Swords Dance, lowering his head blade before plowing forward with an Iron Head.

"Yeah, Kingambit! Show that trespasser who's boss!" Giacomo cheered as his Pokémon landed a solid blow in Chien-Pao.

The legendary retaliated against its attacker with a shining Sacred Sword slice, the Dark/Steel type reeling back from the powerful blow. "It knows Sacred Sword!?" Aurora gasped.

"Inari, keep Chien-Pao's focus on you! You're the only one who can withstand that attack!" Dylan ordered. "Aurora, if this fiendish sword is going to try and slice us up, then you need to ready your own sword to face it!"

"Huh? Lucario doesn't have any sword moves..." Giacomo said in confusion.

"Aurora isn't a normal Lucario. We just need to stall a bit while she charges us," Dylan said with a knowing grin. "Inari, Flamethrower and Sludge Bomb!"

"Kingambit, Stone Edge and Iron Head!" Giacomo ordered.

The two Pokémon kept Chien-Pao on its toes with relentless attacks, the slow moving Kingambit acting as a solid wall for Inari to use as a shield while firing off bursts of fire and poison. The ruinous sword jumped around to pursue the Zoroark, but Kingambit made sure to get in the way and use its bulk to tank even super effective hits. Meanwhile, Aurora focused her aura between her hands until it manifested as a solid construct, the Lucario taking the weapon in both hands.

"I'm ready, Dylan! Just give the signal and I'll end this battle!" she called.

"Giacomo, we need an opening to hit Chien-Pao before I can try catching it," Dylan said, pulling out a Dark Ball and readying it.

"I know just what to do," the Dark Crew leader replied. "Kingambit, Kowtow Cleave!"

"Gambit!" Kingambit shouted, before bending its head low and delivering a powerful upwards slice to Chien-Pao, knocking the legendary into the air.

"Take this!" Inari screeched, using his Bitter Malice to assault Chien-Pao with ghostly energy. "Aurora, do it!"

"Aura... BLADE!" Aurora called, before leaping forward and slashing her opponent with her sword, Chien-Pao giving a cry of shock as his dark aura was purged by the pure ancient aura of the Lucario.

"It's now or never!" Dylan shouted, tossing the Dark Ball to catch Chien-Pao. The ball sucked the legend in, bouncing around in the snow once… twice… three times… and with a satisfying click, it was done. "All right! We caught Chien-Pao!"

"It was a team effort," Aurora nodded.

"The evil one has been conquered!" Inari laughed.

"I'm sure Ms. Raifort will be interested and seeing one of the Treasures of Ruin in person," Dylan grinned before turning to Giacomo. "And we couldn't have won today without your help, Giacomo. You know, for being part of Team Star, you're not that bad."

"We're not bad people, just students that don't agree with how the academy ran things. We have our reasons for doing what we do," Giacomo scoffed. "Still, this whole place would have been buried if you didn't show up. I gotta respect you for that at least. Here, have this."

Dylan caught the disk that was tossed his way. "A TM?"

"It's my latest mix tape, actually. I go by DJ Vice in the music space if you look me up," Giacomo said. "You're pretty strong kid, but I'm gonna have to ask you leave my team base now. We have a lot of cleaning up to do."

"Fair enough. I don't have any reason to fight you guys now that Chien-Pao is safely caught," Dylan said. "I'm Dylan, by the way. Kinda didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier… Also, I should warn you that one of my friends is looking to take Team Star down, and he's not going to go easy on you."

"Blue hair, run around like a ninja. He's hard to miss," Aurora added helpfully.

"Sounds like a weirdo. We have people trying to take us down all the time, so let him just try and fight us," Giacomo laughed. "Our base is gonna need some serious clean-up first, though. Kingambit will need a rest for sure at least."

"…So you haven't seen Arashi yet at all?" Dylan asked in surprise.

"Nope! That name doesn't ring a bell at all," Giacomo said.

Dylan and Aurora shared a concerned look, but said their goodbyes to Giacomo and left to go reunite with the theater team. "There you are! Did you catch Chien-Pao?" Hohma asked.

"Yep! The Sword of Ruin is safely captured," Dylan nodded.

"Nice! With how strong you are, I'm sure you can train it well, Dylan," Aliquis grinned. "I know I want to try and fight it when we get back to the academy."

"And Team Star… did they give you any trouble?" Ohara asked.

"Actually, the crew leader helped me out in catching Chien-Pao, if you can believe it," Dylan replied, much to the shock of his friends.

"You have to tell us everything that happened!" Hohma demanded as they all hopped on Miraidon to head back to Guayaba Academy.

Dylan couldn't help but think of Arashi on the trip, however. 'I wonder why he hasn't been to the Dark Crew base yet? He left Mesagoza in the direction, so surely he hasn't gotten too lost. Right…?'

Meanwhile, back at the Academy, a certain shy lass was nestled away in her dorm, sprawled out with her head against the headboard of her bed with a Pawmo draped around her shoulders, a Flamigo roosting on one side of her, and a Fidough curled up on the other side. Her window curtains were drawn shut, which might have otherwise made things dim without the lights turned on… but a certain Xurkitree's glow kept things from getting dark. Astrid had a laptop propped against her knees, the girl browsing around on the internet, and Raijin rested on the rug next to her, his limbs spread out in a conical formation. The sound of voices could occasionally be heard through the hallways, and certainly down below- most certainly some students getting into battles in the schoolyard.

"So my next opponent is an Electric-type specialist named Iono…" Astrid's voice trailed off as she browsed some pages featuring a bubbly-looking young woman. "She's apparently called 'The Supercharged Streamer' and her battles get loads of views." She shook her head. "Well, I might not be able to phase into the ground to hide anymore, but I guess I can still cover my face with a hood…"

"Supercharged, I understand, but what does being a 'streamer' entail?"Raijin inquired, twisting a bit to glance towards her. "Surely that's not referring to those things you hang up during parties…"

"Thank every god that comes to mind that we don't have them back home," Astrid said, rolling her eyes. "Just… watch this."

She clicked a video on her laptop and held the screen to where Raijin could see, the Xurkitree resuming his bipedal stance and leaning in slightly to get a better look. There was certainly an eye-grabbing setup with stars, bright lights, bright blue and pink backgrounds, and a young woman in a yellow oversized jacket in the middle of the screen. What looked like Magnemites in pastel pink and blue shades floated around her head, but they couldn't possibly be actual Pokémon from their tiny magnetic appendages and bizarre colors. The moment she opened her mouth, she exuded pure energy that would've rivaled Arashi's.

"Ladies and gentlemens!" she cried, waving her arms around with a gigantic smile on her face that the camera zoomed in on. "Are you ready?!" The camera zoomed in on one of the Magnemite lookalikes as its 'eye' made an unfriendly gesture. "Your eyeballs are MINE now- caught in my Electroweb!"

"…Well, she's energetic," Raijin said haplessly.

"Whosawhatsit?!" the young woman exclaimed, the camera zooming back out to focus on her. She winked, waving her arms again. "Iono!"

Astrid shut off the video, and Raijin shrank up a bit before going back to his resting conical stance. "They do shows exactly like that, for hours at a time," the lass noted.

"Wow," the Xurkitree said, shaking his head. "I bet Arashi could be a streamer, in that case…"

Astrid chuckled. "Difference is that Arashi uses his energy to make the world a better place," she said. "And for the record… I doubt she's as supercharged as you."

"My standards of 'supercharged' are, well… pretty high," Raijin replied.

"Mooooo," Mimi said, perking up a bit.

Raijin reached over and gave the Pawmo a scratch between her ears. "Whenever a thunderstorm happens, you and I can have some fun."

However, at that moment, Astrid felt a buzzing in her pocket and reached in to retrieve her phone, the contact name displayed grabbing her attention fairly easily. "Arashi!" she exclaimed. "He hasn't called us in a while!"

"I hope he's okay," Raijin said simply.

Astrid gestured him to come in closer, and the Xurkitree did so, perching on the edge of her bed where they could both be easily seen when she held her phone out. Toast and Mimi both perked up as Astrid answered the call, the Fidough in particular trying his best to sniff her phone, but Igor only craned his neck up slightly with a single narrowed eye. Astrid's video feed certainly had plenty to look at, the girl in the center with Mimi draped around her shoulders, Raijin right next to her, Igor giving a disapproving look to the other side, and Toast's nose pressed up against it until Astrid shooed him off… but the video feed on the other end gave her a jolt.

"Astrid!" came her friend's voice from the other side.

"Gaaaaaaaar!" came a much less friendly roar.

Her friend's video feed was bouncing all over the place, Arashi smiling with haplessly wide eyes in one corner while appearing to sprint through a cave with a… less-than-amused Garchomp darting after him. Mimi flicked her ears and Igor's eye facing the camera went wide, while Astrid couldn't hide her shock and Raijin gave a concerned twitch.

"I-is that a Garchomp?!" Astrid cried, her eyes practically bulging out of her head.

"Where are you at?!" Raijin questioned hurriedly.

"That is a Garchomp!" Arashi replied. "I got lost and ended up in this cave over in South Province, I think, and this thing is not happy to see me!"

"GAAAAAAAR!" The Garchomp behind him folded its fins back and flew forward, fangs flashing as it tried to Crunch him. Arashi, however, saw it coming on his own video feed and seemed to jump out of the way, the camera whipping around as he dodged and changed directions. In the background, the dragon had a mouthful of rocks, which it bit straight through, and gave another roar of wrath as it turned to chase him again.

"Whew! Maybe I'm not a Greninja anymore, but at least I still have ninja reflexes, aha!" Arashi exclaimed. He gave a glance back at the wreckage, still grinning but getting an unsettled look. "And thank the gods for that…!"

Astrid's mouth hung slightly open for a second, but she was quickly darting off of her bed while saying hurriedly, "Don't let that thing get you! We're coming, okay?!"

"Please stay safe!" Raijin added, hurriedly getting up too.

Arashi laughed, still grinning but looking awkwardly hapless. "I knew I could count on you guys! I'll keep running- I really don't wanna find out how much less durable a human body is than my Greninja one like this, if I'm being honest!"

"We'll get there as soon as we can!" Astrid replied, grabbing her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. "Hold out until then, okay?!"

"I'll do my- is that Bulldoze?! Why?!"

The video feed started shaking even more, then abruptly cut off with another roar as Arashi seemed to drop the phone. Astrid shook her head, staring wide-eyed at her screen for a moment as she headed for the door. She pulled up the map to see where her friend could've possibly run off to, and noticed rather conspicuously an icon akin to a wormhole in several locations- the outskirts of Cortondo, around Artazon, Mesagoza's gates…

"If that functions how I think it does…" her voice trailed off. She fished Raijin's ball out of her bag and held it in one hand, glancing over to her Beast friend. "It'd be a shorter Flying Taxi ride from Cortondo. I… think this thing will let me open a wormhole."

"Do it," Raijin replied easily. "It's worth a try."

She pressed the wormhole icon near Cortondo, and sure enough, within moments, her Pokémon companions were giving jolts of surprise as the air cracked and split apart. Mimi eyed the wormhole, Toast yapped, and Igor jumped straight up with an incredulous look.

"It's alright, guys," Astrid said simply, recalling all of them into their balls and patting each one. "We do this all the time where we're from."

Raijin too retreated to his ball temporarily so as to not be inadvertently noticed, and Astrid made sure to already be calling a taxi to Cortondo as she stepped into the wormhole. Soon, her room was empty, becoming just a small blip on the other side as she stepped out on the outskirts of the town.

[***]

It certainly wasn't a long taxi ride once Astrid explained that she was looking for a cave in South Province, for the cabbie knew exactly where such a cave was and the Squawkabillies flapped fast once they heard it was urgent. Of course, had Astrid been a Decidueye, she would've flown there herself, probably faster than four smaller avians hauling a carriage… but she wasn't, and the taxi was faster than running. Once they were inside the cave, Raijin exited his ball in a hurry, and both he and Astrid scanned the vicinity for any signs of an angry dragon that might've necessitated the Xurkitree's firepower to stop its rampage…

But they didn't find that. What they did find was Arashi, perched happily on a rock, with an unconscious Garchomp sprawled on the ground next to him amongst the busted-up rocks. He perked up immediately on seeing them and darted over, a big smile plastered on his face, while Astrid couldn't help but to be taken aback. Raijin too froze, studying the Garchomp a bit as if debating whether to hit it with a Dazzling Gleam just to be safe.

"You guys!" the blue-haired lad exclaimed, throwing his arms first around Astrid and then Raijin. "You came!"

"A-Arashi, y-you-!" Astrid stammered, trying to return the gesture with choppy movements for her stunned state.

The Xurkitree, though, haplessly returned the hug, making Arashi's hair stand on end from his currents. "Did you guys actually fight that thing?" Raijin inquired, still studying the Garchomp. "And win?"

Arashi laughed. "Oh, it makes for a good story!" he replied, turning to face it. "So I was-!"

Astrid, however, had other ideas, and pulled out the Prism Phone to open another wormhole. "Let's get out of here," she cut him off, reaching out and grabbing Arashi's hand. "As much as I'm not worried about raging dragons with Raijin around, let's not put ourselves in one's territory where its friends might show up."

There were no protests. Arashi was still grinning as she dragged him in, and Raijin followed close behind before the wormhole shut.

Author's Note

TheDragonSaver: Can I say that the Treasures of Ruin are super cool? They take object-based Pokémon and turn them into cursed objects that gained sentience, not to mention how each of them clearly comes from different regions/cultures from around the world. Chien-Pao is my favorite, because who doesn't think a snow leopard-weasel thing with sword fangs isn't cool?

Giacomo is a pretty cool guy, but I'll talk more about him and Team Star when Arashi finally make it to his base lol.

Azakael: As much as I'd love to write my favorite Xurkitree unceremoniously giving a horde of Garchomps and Gabites the boot with a single Dazzling Gleam while his human friends hug each other in a safe corner, I have to resist that urge for now. (I'll get my moment… eventually.) Arashi is in the good hands of my friend for this one- at long last we'll get some action from him, bwahaha.