Chapter 1: A portal through water

Mystery Dungeon: Through realms and worlds

/Chapter 1: A portal through water/

Edited by: Samellan

“Alright, here we are. The Void Water Chamber, and the very source of Rose Isles unique abilities and properties, such as appearing and disappearing at will from place to place, not just on this world, but on other worlds too.” Miss Roselia, or rather just Rosette, stated, gesturing towards the massive room in front of us with her right arm.

Both me and Nava were of course in complete awe at the mere sight in front of us. All the walls were completely covered in some mysterious looking water like liquid which was both softly glowing and travelling upwards to the domed ceiling where it was forming into large ball where the mysterious looking shine was the brightest.

Sure, Celebi’s and Palkia's description of this place was rather detailed, and quite exciting on its own, but actually standing here in person and seeing this place with our very eyes was a completely different beast altogether.

It was already awe inspiring enough that an entire civilization existed out there, consisting of nothing but Budews, Roselias, and Roserades, it was even more crazy when almost a year ago this civilization suddenly appeared to the south of the Water continent with a whole chain of islands that basically formed a giant oversized rose when you see if from above. And, as if the enigma of this place wasn’t even more… enigmatic enough?... it also turned out that this place was also bearing a room which was capable of creating portals into other worlds. Primarily those the Isles and the Citadel build on its center had visited before in the past, which was just the icing on the cake for me.

The idea of being able to visit brand new never before seen worlds alone was just so mind numbing to me that I was almost unable to get a good sleep for several days just thinking about it. But still, it was quite exciting nonetheless, especially when you consider the possibilities with this. Being a member of the Pokémon Exploration society guild obviously meant that exploring pretty much everything that our world has to offer is more of a duty than a job. And now the possibility of extending this duty further into new and completely unexplored worlds is just such an exhilarating thought on its own.

I really love exploring and adventuring, in case none of you can tell.

One of the few reasons why Nava and I are deep inside the heart of the Citadel in the first place. To be one of the first of our world to step into its mysteries and experiencing it all for ourselves.

Well, that is what I kinda hope at least, as the whole “opening a portal and stepping through it to another world” wasn’t exactly part of the discussion back at HQ.

All Ampharos mentioned back then was that he and Jirachi were invited to visit Rose Isle’s in the middle of the ocean, and that we were also invited to come along. Most likely thanks to us knowing Pericles himself, the Head Roserade of all of these Roselias, Budews, and Roserades here.

An interesting name for sure, and an even more interesting acting fellow once you get to meet him a few times.

Which we both did, thanks to the fact that he suddenly appeared at Lively Town a couple of months back and causing a bit of a rickus at the market. The same time when these islands and its people suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the ocean.

Like, really, I can still remember the shock me and the rest of the Exploration Society members had when word started to spread out that a new island change shaped like a rose with a huge citadel like structure in the middle of it was suddenly spotted off the southernmost coast.

It certainly was something, even more so when Nava and me first laid eyes on the newly formed islands and the unique civilization build on it.

And now, the never ending mystery of this place has spread even further, now that both me and Nava over here were standing right in front of a room with countless possibilities.

Oh, and in case of anyone reading this diary and wondering who the heck I am, and who my partner whom I constantly mention is, let me tell you. My name is Glade, a Snivy in body but something completely different in soul, or, at least, that’s what I know. But I am going to keep the details about that a secret for now to not overwhelm you with too many surprises *wink *wink. And besides, I am sure you would all have heard mine and my friend’s names before in regards to what we managed to accomplish a year and a half from now.

You know, that one MAJOR incident revolving around Dark Matter corrupting pokemons and almost causing the tree of life to die and for the world to be flung towards the sun? You know, that incident? I am sure you would have heard at least about THAT, no matter at what time period or decade this diary is being read in.

But anyway, speaking of which, I still have someone else to introduce, aren’t I? In case some of you are somehow living under a rock or have skipped school on that one particular lesson where it was in.

I know I have… I mean, I skipped school a couple of times. But whatever.

Anyway, my partner’s name and closest friend in the whole wide world is Nava, as I have already named him a couple of times at the start of this diary. He is a Froakie, in body at least, but also yet not exactly in spirit, just like me. I am sure that many of you might be aware that human turned pokemon has arrived to our world not to long ago. Something, something about him being the key of defeating Dark Matter and something, something like that.

Well, to be perfectly blunt here, that human turned pokemon is actually standing right next to me. Nava. The one who loyally and bravely stood by my side as we both succeeded in defeating Dark Matter for good.

Again, should be common knowledge to most at this point, but to make it clear once more, Nava over here was actually a human.

Yes, an actual human from the human world. How crazy does that sound? But anyway, at this point I might just be rambling on pointless stuff and preventing you all from actual knowing what the heck is going on right now instead of me reciting to you all about the not so distant past.

Again, I am just making sure that all this would be common knowledge to you all so that it won’t get too confusing from this point on. Or so I hope, and hope is really all you need in order to get through some really nasty and difficult times.

Again, just remember or read what happened one and a half year ago, or at whatever time period this diary is being read. I wouldn’t add the term found to it, as I am planning to give this to Miss Mawile once the entire diary is filled.

She is really good at keeping books or scrolls safe, after all.

Anyway, enough of this chit-chat. Let’s go back to being in complete awe of a room which walls seemed to be made completely out of flowing water. Magically sparkling, gravity defying, and glowing water. Minus the floor, the floor was just your typical marble looking floor, highly polished and with lots of strange shapes and swirls decorating its surface. And, apparently, those shapes and swirls are just that, shapes and swirls which have absolutely nothing to do with the mysterious properties of this room.

I should really stop doing this, shouldn’t I? Even when writing a diary I tend to make myself look quite chatty and annoying. Better not let Pancham read this, or otherwise he will just continue to highlight just how annoying I truly am.

Well, in that case, I guess it was kind of good thing that Nava actually took the time to wave his hand in front of my face to snap me out of my own thoughts. Otherwise I would have most likely been standing here for goodness how long.

I am talking about the moment, of course, not the time when I am writing this.

Either way, I blinked a couple of times before hearing a chuckle coming next to me from Rosette, most likely at my derpy expression.

“Well, it’s not like you get the chance to see a room which is coated and flowing with the dimensional waters that separate many worlds and dimensions from ours everyday, isn’t it? Like, really, this is a pretty unique sight.” She announced.

“Well,yeah, it certainly is something. Isn’t that right, Nava?” I asked, to which Nava simply replied with a nod.

He never really was much of a talker ever since I have known him, and really only ever says something whenever it is really necessary to do so.

You’ll get used to it super quickly, though. I sure did, but that is because I tend to just do most of the talking. We both are kinda polar opposites in that regard, me being an ever so hyper extravert, while he is an introvert through and through. But that is why the two of us match so well… again, just in my opinion.

But I am sure that I am totally right with my assumptions. ^.^

I was about to ask something when the chief put a wrench into my plans and just materialized right out of the blue, preventing me from doing so.

Man, I actually almost forgot that both Jirachi and Ampharos were here with us as well. Then again, these two got originally invited to come here before we got added to the list.

“My, my, my, what a unique looking room indeed. I wasn’t even aware that water could… do that.” The chief stated, looking quite perplexed by this as well as Jirachi floating next to him.

“Chief, you know very well what Palkia has stated. This stuff isn’t just your run of the mill water, but a water lookalike substance which exists only within the void that separates our world with countless others.” Jirachi stated.

“Well, it looks like water to me, so what do I know.”

“Anyway… Miss Rosette, was it?” The chief began, looking to his left where Rosette stood.

Rosette nodded, giving him her full attention.

“Well, according to the information and history you gave us about this place before we came here, this place, or rather this whole island, is actually existing within its own pocket dimension separate from ours. Isn’t that correct?” The chief questioned, luring both mine and Nava’s attention almost immediately.

“Wait, what?!” both me and Nava shouted.

“Why, it's true.” A very familiar voice replied.

We all turned our heads towards its source, and wouldn’t you know it, it was none other than the big dude of this rose themed island himself.

Well, I say big dude, even though Roserades don’t really grow that much larger when evolving from Roselias. But don’t let their lack of size fool you, especially the ones living here and even more so the one casually strolling down the stairs.

Pericles himself, or better, Peri, as he is really likes to call himself sometimes. Also known as the Silver Rose by the inhabitants of the isles. Curiously enough. But outside the Isle, and to me and my partner personally as well, he is simply known as Pericles, or even Peri for some.

He can be quite...the funny feeling character at times. I could personally try and explain him in this diary at much better detail, but that would obviously mean rambling on with needlessly big level expositions which I am too lazy to do right now.

I will write more about him as my stories continue onward. Because I know for a fact that he is going to eventually show us again why he can be so...unpredictable.

But anyway, as I said, we all turned ourselves towards him as he made his way down, holding his trademark grin. A grin which can mean everything or nothing. It really is up to him, which obviously doesn’t help either.

But, to be honest, he is really fun to have around, though. Especially when things do tend to get serious around us and he gets the chance to truly show us why he is perhaps the most perplexing pokemon I have ever known.

Just proving how little we know about our surroundings, world, and just how everything really works or exists.

Well, that is what the Pokemon Expedition society is for. Exploring new places and solving new mysteries.

Gosh, I really am a complete tattletale, aren’t I?

I am wasting so much ink right now.

Anyway (for the last time, I swear), Audacity took his place by Rosette’s side as he peered into the room as well. Though, with a curious look, strangely enough.

“Rosette, where is all stuff?” He asked before looking back at her.

Rosette perked up at that.

“Oh, yeah, about that…” She began awkwardly. ”I moved them up to the eastern bailey temporarily so that these visitors here can have a much better look at the Room of dimensions. Would kinda ruin the mood and overall esthetic if the first thing they all see was a large collection of crates, boxes and whatnot.” She added, rubbing the back of her head and giving him a sheepish smile.

Both the Chief and Jirachi himself where fairly confused by this, same for us before Ampharos decided to ask.

“Um… excuse me, but my I ask what the two of you are talking about?” He asked what we were all silently asking ourselves as well.

Rosette turned towards us with a smile. “Well, simply, this room is actually being used as a storage basement whenever the room isn’t being used to hop through worlds or dimensions.” She casually replied, which again shocked us all. Though for completely different reason than before.

“What? You mean… you are casually using a room, which is capable of creating links to different realities and worlds as a simple storage basement? Wh-why?” Jirachi asked, completely baffled by this.

Pericles just shrugged. “I don’t know, seems kinda appropriate for most of the time. Plus, this entire Citadel itself actually lacks a proper underground chamber for storage, thanks to the fact that we are literally standing on top a massive flower. So at some point I personally proposed the idea to just use the void water room for this very purpose whenever it’s not really in use. Which is not a lot, by the way, besides allowing this whole Isle to appear or disappear somewhere else. So converting it into a knick-knack storage pit does at least give it some practical use for us whenever we are not changing position or location or whatever. Plus…” He gestured towards the room with his blue right rose. ”…this place is super spacious, too, just perfect to start safe keeping all the junk which we have managed to collect over the decades from hopping in and form world to world. It’s overall a very great use for this place.” He added, flashing us all a huge smile while resting his rosey arms against his hips like how he always does whenever trying to be clever.

Kinda like me whenever I am trying to look proud or clever myself. Which is way too often for me, or at least according to our friend Espurr.

Well, to say that we were… flabbergasted by this would have been an understatement. I mean… here you have a room, a room dedicated fully to ripping holes through reality and capable of transporting a person or an entire freaking island to a new location or world… and it is casually being used as a storage room for most of the time.

These Rose themed Pokemon are crazy, I tell you, but then again, who am I to judge them? Even we at the Expedition Society can be complete nutheads at the best of times… or even the worst.

“Well, anyway… now that this little problem is out of the way, let’s see if we can power this thing back up again, shall we? I am sure you all came here with the prospect of peering into a new world after all.” Pericles suddenly announced, snapping us all from the perplexed trance.

Me in particular, as this pretty much confirmed the hopes I was… well, hoping for. Though one very important question quickly entered my mind when I saw both Pericles and Rosette stroll past us into the room.

“Just one question, is this place even capable of creating a connection to the human world, and if so, have you all already been to the human world yourself?” I questioned loudly, which again got pretty much everyone’s attention almost immediately.

Especially my partner Nava’s, as he perked up at that.

Both Rosette and Pericles stopped on their tracks as the latter looked rather thoughtful.

“Well, yes. Yes, this place CAN connect directly to the human world, and YES, I have personally been there a couple of times over the decades.” He casually answered before pausing and turning his gaze towards us. Primarily at Nava next to me.

This was… strangely confusing and certainly not the first time now that I think back to it. Though I never really saw it as anything noteworthy. Even now. I mean… he can’t possibly be from the human world as well… right? Right?

“Anyway, let’s just get this thing powered up then, shall we?” He announced before tapping his chin. “Um… wait…” I paused for a while. “How does this go again?” He questioned while looking at Rosette to his left.

She just tilted her head at him. “Really, you already forgot?”

Pericles shrugged. “Well… the last time I was here when we made active use of this thing, I was actually outside, drowning myself in carrots as usual. I am pretty sure it involves member of the Rose Guard, if I am not mistaken.” He responded, looking upwards to the ceiling while and crossing his arms.

“Well, yeah, but there was also Victini who is psychically connected to the energy orb above us that is necessary to help focus the collective energy at the center point.” Rosette responded, gesturing with a flower up at the glowing ball of liquid at the center of the domed ceiling.

I perked up at that. “Ah, yeah, Victini is from here, too. Forgot about that.” I thought to myself at the mention of his name.

Though personally I never knew that Victini actually had such a role until now. I, or rather we, always knew him to be Pericles’s personal assistant as he usually was always by his side whenever he was skirting around outside the island, while Rosette was actually more like the steward of this place whenever Peri was outside doing… ”whatever” as he always calls it.

“Oh,yeah, really forgot all about that. I guess, after living for so many decades nonstop, I am finally showing my age with a bit of memory loss. Man, I must be old and wise now.” Pericles stated with a smile, which in turn made Rosette just roll her eyes, funnily enough.

“No, no, you’re not growing old, neither of us does on the isle. You’re just have been chewing on too many carrots again lately, which, you should know, does kind have a tiny negative side effect on you by messing up with your memory and your sense of focus a bit.” She replied nonchalantly.

“Yeah… maybe… but at least it's giving me some very sharp vision and very quick reflexes. A decent trade, if you ask me, especially now that I can see EVERYTHING, thanks to that.” Peri responded, widening his eyes with his vines in a rather comedic way.

Rosette again just shook her head, while the rest of us were awkwardly standing on the sidelines, unable to really say or do much on the matter. To be honest, this is pretty much typical wherever Peri is around. Awkwardness just seems to follow him wherever he goes, even when things start to get serious.

“Fine, fine… I’ll stop snacking on so many carrots for a while. Just stop lecturing me constantly in just how messy it tends to make me inside my already messy patch of cotton of a head. Let’s just go get the necessary things down here so that we can start moving all of the junk back afterwards. I am a guy for esthetics, after all, and the eastern bailey is not a place to store crates or boxes. It’s actually a garden.” Pericles announced, which in turn made Rosette smile.

“Sweet, because we are kinda running low on carrots anyway.” Rosette casually stated, which made Pericles freeze in place at these news.

He kinda reminds me of Swirlix a bit, but instead of overfeeding himself on perfect apples, Pericles over here seems to enjoy snacking on as many carrots as he can get his vines on.

Overall a funny comparison, and also one of the reasons why both him and Swirlix understood each other quite well during their first meeting. That is, until they started to argue what was better for you - A perfect Apple, or a Perfect Carrot.

The debate was pretty silly, but… surprisingly, quite… suspenseful, too.

“Anyway. Mister Ampharos and Jirachi. Is it okay for the two of you to wait just a little bit longer while I go back up and get a few members of the Rose guard down here? It won’t take too long, I promise.” Rosette stated with a smile.

The chief just shook his head. “Not at all, and please, just call me Ampharos, I am still single, after all.” He stated with his own smile.

“Same for me. Just call me Jirachi.” Jirachi added, which Rosette acknowledged with a nod.

“Alright, let me just quickly go back upstairs then, so that I can get everything done and organized to re-activate the void waters. Though…” She began, tapping her chin. ”I am not sure where Victini could be right about now. He usually never naps in his room during the day, which means that he could literally be taking his nap anywhere on the island. Only Pericles here might have an idea where he might be, but…” She looked over her shoulder at the still shell shocked form of Pericles. Which was again kinda silly, but also slightly worrying. ”…as you can see, he won’t be able to recover from the fact that we are truly running out of carrots down in the kitchens.” She then sighed. ”Guess, I have to send someone out into the closest town to get some more then. What good is a leader when he is unable to move?” She more or less muttered that part out before again giving off a sigh.

“Actually, both me and Nava can help in getting Victini for you. We actually saw him napping on top of one of those stall curtains at the market when we came here.” I announced, which Nava next to me confirmed with a nod.

“Really? That’s great, would certainly save me a lot of time and for you as well. I mean, the faster we can get everything collected - the faster we can try to reactivate the void water and make a connection to one of the realms we personally haven’t even set foot on outside of our island. So this would certainly be first for everyone. If it will work, that is.” Rosette stated, making both me and Nava smile at the offered prospect of being one of the first to step into a never before explored world where no Pokemon has ever set foot on yet.

Both me and Nava saluted. “Aye, aye, ma’am, we will complete this task faster than you can assemble the Rose guard.” I stated before looking over to my friend. “Come on, the faster we find Victini, the faster we can write history, quite literally in fact, since I just started jotting down diaries about our adventures.” I announced, smiling.

“Race you to the marketplace, then?” Nava suddenly challenged with a smirk, which I quickly returned.

“Ha, you’re on, slowpoke.” I dared back.

And with that we were off, racing up the stairs and towards the island’s market on the western bailey of the citadel.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

(In a faraway world)

“Yes, I swear, brother. It’s not a joke. I found it right over here, if I am not mistaken.” A young little filly said, as she was taking the lead through a heavily overgrown and somewhat dark looking forest.

The forest itself wasn’t that particularly large, especially when it was overshadowed by a formidable mountain range on the other side. But what the forest lacked in true size, it easily makes up in just how overall dense and thick its layout really was.

Massive trees, thick undergrowth, and dense foliage, and not to mention large overgrown stone pillars and other structure looking formations which has made this particular piece of nature almost impassable by anyone. Well, anything larger than a foal, to be honest, which is why these two were able to duck and weave through the bushes, vines and roots littered ground, keeping a very modest pace while trudging through the forest grounds.

A few cuts a bruises were still had along the way, thanks to the aforementioned sharp branches of bushes and thorn covered vines here and there, but nothing truly serious and nothing that their mother couldn’t easily patch out when they made their way back to the village once his sister has finally shown him what she had been spouting about for a couple of days, ever since she went into the nearby forest alone, much to their mother’s worry and annoyance.

Because, technically, none of the kids were ever allowed to go into the forest, because the adults think that it was cursed or whatever in just how dark and foreboding it looked. Not to mention, those illusive ruins as well that could be seen deep within the woods only at a specific time of the day. And only if the weather was clear.

But bans and silly grown up superstitions were never going to stop curious little youngsters from exploring anyway. Especially managing to trudge through this forest all alone and coming back to tell the tale to her older brother, much to his annoyance.

“Here it is.” The little filly suddenly called out after she pushed herself through the final bush, her brother close behind.

His large crystal blue eyes widened in both surprise and awe at the very sight which was presented in front of him.

“Whoa, what are those things?” The little colt asked out loud.

“Don’t know, which is why I wanted to show this to you. It looks… so mysterious, doesn’t it?” The little filly responded as both him and her were standing in front of a massive overgrown arch flanked by two statues depicting strange looking creatures which these two foals have never seen or heard about before.

Bipedal looking creatures, with oversized spiky heads and rose looking flowers on their arms and forelegs.

Whatever these things were is anyone’s guess, but what was clear to these two foals was at least that something clearly used to be here that must have built these ancient structures before they were inevitably abandoned and overgrown by nature.

Maybe it was these two looking creatures that originally constructed this place. Would certainly make one heck of a mystery if that was the case.

What a big and mysterious world they are living in.

Chapter 2: The start of a new Adventure

View Online

Chapter 2: The start of a new Adventure

Edited by” Samellan, fistfire

“Yes, I win!” Nava announced happily, raising his arms in a victory pose.

I, on the other hand, just grumbled. “Well, no surprise. First, your legs are a lot longer than mine, and second…” I patted the bag next to me. ”I am the one who is carrying all of our stuff, not you,” I huffed, trying to catch my breath.

It took me a bit of time to completely regain my composure before I could look up once more to see exactly where we managed to end up. I was so focused on beating Nava in a full-on sprint that I managed to completely forget the actual reason why the two of us were out here in the first place. Well, I do remember now after realizing that we were standing right in front of the marketplace gates.

It was bustling and alive as any market, no matter how big or small the settlement is.

The entire market was filled with nothing but Roselias and Roserades, all casually walking around and talking to one another in front of market stalls, benches or even the large water fountain at the center of the Plaza, with a couple of Budews running around in between them for added diversity.

I will have to say, walking around in a marketplace dominated by nothing but one Pokémon type alone is kinda strange. Especially when you are getting nothing but curious stares from those around you, as if we were total outsiders or strangers to them.

Well, to be honest, we kind of were. Both literally and physically in terms of types and looks. Talk about sticking out like a sore thumb.

I coughed into my hand awkwardly after regaining my full composure. “Anyway, let’s go and look for Victini then. I bet he’s still around here,” I stated, which Nava acknowledged once again with a simple nod.

Many markets are bustling with life during the day, but it was even more true for this one because just how many of these Roserades and Roselias are actually calling this Isle their home.

No, really, the amount of citizens living here is quite staggering, to say the least. Even the overall ground coverage that this entire fortress-like complex has is even bigger compared to Lively town’s size. Like, a lot bigger. Which is crazy, but also quite awe-inspiring just how beautiful this place truly is. With its white themed architecture, the many artistically chiseled and decorated columns and walls on almost every building, and not to mention the seemingly never-ending sea of flowers on every patch of grass or pot around here. Like, really, this place has the most number of different colored flowers, species, shapes, and sizes than anywhere else, a lot of these are flowers I have personally never seen before. Not to mention how a large portion of these walls and buildings around here are either covered in hanging green or entwined plants respectively. Again, all sporting flowers of their own and the same with the few massive trees dominating the skyline with their massive crowns.

Even the many statues depicting both Roselias and Roserades have entwined plants growing up their base.

Overall, truly the greenest looking place I have ever seen so far.

“Hey, do you still remember where exactly we have seen Victini when we first came here today?” Nava asked as he was hopping alongside me.

I tapped my chin in thought. “I think I saw him at one of the stalls close to the front gate. I say we should just start there and hope that we can find him quickly.” I responded, again receiving a nod of confirmation from my partner.

A few paces later and we eventually found ourselves facing the aforementioned front entrance of this place. Which is actually a very tall archway with two Roselia statues flanking it from both sides, in case some of you might be wondering.

Seriously, what is it with this place and a need for everything to be so over the top tall or huge? But then again, a lot of these ancient Pokémon ruins and structures around the world all share the same features in terms of scope and size. Perfectly proving the actual fact that this Citadel shares its roots from that specific time period of ancient Pokémon history.

Pun intended, by the way. :3

Either way, besides staring off at huge statues of Pokémon, me and Nava quickly started to look around in hope of finding the one Pokémon we were actually looking for.

Naturally, it shouldn’t really be too hard to spot Victini in this never-ending sea of green and more green. But given our size, and the equally silly heights of these market stalls, it was rather difficult to peek over them. I guess the only reason why we were able to spot him in the first place was that one of his really long ears was actually poking out and over one of these market stalls which was rather easy to see at first glance.

But now, now we weren’t even sure where exactly we saw him.

“Ugh, this is ridiculous,” I muttered, crossing my arms with a frown.

“How about we just ask around then? Maybe some of these Roserades or Roselias know where he is or they have seen him. Couldn’t obviously hurt to try, now can it?” Nava suggested after he too gave up just looking for him in the old fashion way.

“Sure,” I responded with a nod before just walking up to the closet market vendor to my left who seemed to be selling something that kinda looked like potions or something else that requires bottles or flasks to store liquids in.

I was about to ask the kind looking vendor in front of me when a sudden presence of someone snoring nearby entered my ears.

“Uh… am I the only one hearing this? Or I am…” I was about to say, before the vendor, or should I say, mister, gave me the answer which I sought before I was even able to finish my question properly.

“Actually, no, you are not the only one hearing this. I have been listening to these snores for some time now. Right above my stall, if you want to know.” The vendor kindly answered which was kind of strange given how casual he seemed to be.

I am sure that a lot of other Pokémon would have eventually started to get really annoyed at this constant snoring nearby. But then again, everybody is different, and if he didn’t feel bothered by this noise in the slightest, then who am I to judge him for it?

“Well, at least this means that we finally found Victini by the sounds of it,” Nava commented behind me.

I nodded. “Seems so,” I responded before looking back at the vendor. “Is it okay if we climb up there and see if it is truly him?” I asked him.

He nodded. “No problem, go right ahead,” He answered which earned him a thankful smile from me.

“Thanks!” I beamed at him before looking back to Nava. “Come on, let’s see if it is truly him up there.”

Nava, again, just nodded before the two of us pulled up a nearby ladder up against the roof of the stall and climbed up it's steps. Nava, of course, has no need for such tools as he could just casually jump up on top of it with one good hop. I could have easily done so myself, but the idea of getting the ladder was not to cause too much of a scene as we already are did by our mere presence alone.

These Pokémon really don’t see or interact with many other Pokémon’s, do they?

“Yup, it’s him.” Nava quietly announced before I managed to get myself up on top as well.

I smiled almost immediately the moment my head peeked over the edge to see a fully knocked out and sprawled out Victini laying on the roof of the stall. He was on his back and quite loudly sawing away now that I was practically right next to him. But still somewhat adorable, given his position.

“Alright, let's go and wake him…”

“HEY!” Someone shouted from below us.

I looked down only to be somewhat surprised to see a wild gang of three budews standing right underneath the ladder I was perched on.

“We know of a great way to swiftly wake up mister Victini up there. Totally foolproof and easy.” The same budew of these three stated.

The other two just nodded to that, before all of them simply smiled at me expectantly.

I gave this strange trio a curious look. “What do you mean you three know a great way of waking up Victini?” I asked back.

“Simple…” The lead budew began before pulling something out of its satchel with its mouth and presenting it up towards me.

“This is one of his wake-up potions. Just give him a few drops and he will be up and about quicker than trying to shake him awake the old fashion way. Mister Victini is actually a very heavy sleeper, so hardly anything can truly wake him up beside literally throwing him off the bed or attacking him.” One of the other two Budews stated before stepping up to the ladder.

“Here, take it.” She added by gesturing towards the tiny flask in her friend's mouth.

I was obviously a bit skeptic about this, especially given the timing. I looked back to my partner for any input and only got an unsure shrug as a response after he tired shaking Victini’s prone form with very little success.

He was still happily snoring away like nothing had happened.

Geez, who would have thought that finding, waking up, and getting Victini would end up to be so… complex?

But hey, so is adventuring as a whole. Nothing ever goes according to plan once you are there and that is just one of the things why exploration and world mapping is so much fun.

I am just distracting myself, aren’t I? Anyway, back to reality and the task at hand.

“Well, I guess we can give the budews’ suggestion a try. I mean, what is the worst that can happen?” I told myself with a shrug before climbing back down.

Famous last words right there, Glade, famous last words. Why I keep saying them in the most convenient or most suspicious of times I will never know. But hey, one of the fun surprises of being an explorer, right? I mean, not everything can go a 100 percent peachy, now that would be boring.

“Here you go.” The lead budew stated after she dropped the tiny flask onto my hand.

“Uh… okay… thanks,” I awkwardly answered before climbing back up the ladder where Nava was still patiently sitting right next Victini’s body.

“You sure this is a good idea?” Nava worriedly asked me.

“Well, what the heck are we supposed to do? I doubt literally throwing him off the roof of this stall is going to give us any favors with him. Plus…” I presented the small flask to him. ”…what can a few drops of some wake-up potion really do to someone? It is at least worth a try. Plus, these little budews down there seem to be way too young to be even remotely mischievous.” I confidently answered with a smile, before pulling the cork out of the flask and angling it above Victini’s snoring mouth.

“Huh… look who is talking.” Nava casually added as he simply watched me pour down the contents of the flask into Victini’s mouth.

Once done the two of us shuffled a bit to see what would happen.

At first, there was nothing before a very quiet moan escaped his mouth, which almost made me smile.

“See, it’s working. Told you that this was going to be…” I stopped before I realized that he was starting to twitch a bit in his sleep, and not in a good way. His moans were also getting louder and louder, with smoke coming out the corner of his mouth which was obviously not a good sign.

Both me and Nava were about to jump in or say something before Victini’s eyes suddenly snapped open which made us flinch.

That flinch quickly turned into an actual yelp of surprise when Victini suddenly jumped up into the air, flailing his arms like crazy and screaming like a madman with his mouth literally on fire.

No, really, I doubt that this is even one of his fire moves or anything. His mouth was literally burning by the looks of it and judging by his screams I guess I was right with my assumption.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HOOOOOOOOT, WHO THE HECK JUST FED ME GHOST CHILI SAUCE??!! I AM ALLERGIC TO CHILI!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” Was all he managed to scream out as he started to crazily fly around in circles in hopes of extinguishing the flames that way. Even though a water fountain was not that far off from where we stood.

In the meantime, three budews could be clearly heard laughing their butts off as this spectacle was taking place, making it very clear to me that we were tricked and that we are most likely going to get blamed for this.

Talk about not trying to cause a scene, because now we basically had the attention of the entire market

Those famous last words, Glade, those famous last words.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Uh… Victini, what has happened to you? Why do you look so drenched?” Rosette asked in shock, after me, Nava, and a very understandingly pissed off Victini had returned to the Void Water room… or whatever it was called again.

Both me and Nava were, of course, keeping our distance from him this entire time as we made our way back. The amount of scolding he gave us after the shopkeeper was able to grab him with his vine and throw him into the plaza's fountain to cool him off, was quite… painful. My ears were still ringing from that verbal onslaught he has given us, alongside with words I have never heard before.

Some of the onlookers were saying that these words were frequently used in the human world, but I obviously have no references to confirm this fact.

Oh, and of course the three little snitches who gave us the hot sauce in the first place were nowhere to be seen afterwards, making us the prime target of Victini’s wrath once he was well enough to start scolding.

Man, this fetch quest has really turned into a disaster really fast. But at least the rest of the gang was now here as well, alongside the so-called members of “Rose guard” — Roserades which had light pink colored cotton on their heads, much longer leaf caps dragging behind them, and thick looking leaf shoulder pads on their… well, shoulders.

They are even seen to sometimes carry around some form of vine made spear with a rose-colored crystal as its tip. But as of now, neither of them were carrying their so-called “badge of office” with them.

Still, not really sure what these spears are really used for and what they could possibly do. Pokémon themselves can perform moves and attacks whenever they want. So why have them if that is the case?

Either way, Victini gave us a sideways glare which we both naturally backed off from. Victini is known to be normally pretty chill, but I guess giving him ghost chili sauce was a line which should not be crossed.

Something both me and Nava have noted.

I swear, if I see those three little devils ever again…

“These two have poured ghost chili sauce into my mouth while I was asleep. The aftermath which followed is not hard to imagine.” He answered before floating himself into the room.

Rosette just nodded to that before focusing back at the roserades surrounding her who were telling her something which we were a bit too far away to clearly overhear, as the two of us were still trying to keep our distance from this fire and psychic combo of the Pokémon.

Psychic is the absolute worst to deal with unless you have either ghost, bug or dark based attacks in your arsenal.

We eventually joined both Jirachi and the chief after Victini placed himself into the center of the room, both of them looking rather perplexed towards us for what we did. But thankfully said nothing as Victini’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Hey, what’s wrong with the Chief here?” He suddenly called out.

Oh, yeah, forgot that Pericles was pretty crushed by the fact that his favorite snack was quickly running out. Granted, he was no longer frozen at this point in time, but he seemed to be still rather depressed while just sitting there.

“Oh, him? I just told him that we were running out of carrots around here. Something he didn’t take so well… as he never does,” Rosette casually answered, seeming to be quite uncaring to the fact that her boss was feeling down in the dumps.

She kind of reminds me of Espurr sometimes. Especially with that smile of hers.

Victini just nodded before turning his attention back to his boss and snapping his fingers to get Pericles’s attention. “Hey, I think I still have some carrots back it my room if you want, chief? I am not so big into carrots myself anyway, besides using them in some salads once in a while,” He kindly offered which comically got Pericles’s attention almost instantaneously as his head snapped back up.

Victini teleported himself away, to the surprise of me and Nava, before reappearing again with a carrot perfectly resting in his hands.

Pericles grinned before wasting no time to snatch the vegetable away and chew on it. Once the thing was gone… like, really gone, he immediately rose up from his position with his confidence back in full force.

Really, he sometimes does remind me a lot of Swirlix with his over-obsession for some fruits or veggies. These two could naturally get along just fine if it wasn’t for the fact that one is pro-apple and the other is pro-carrot.

Simple disagreements to some are really big disagreements to others.

“Alright, now that my midlife crisis is over, let’s get this show on the road so that I can leave this island myself to go shop for more carrots. I need my bloody CARROTS!” He began, going momentarily insane at the end of that.

He immediately turned his attention towards Victini. “Vic, if you will?” He politely gestured towards him.

“Ay, ay, chief,” He responded with a salute before flying right under the large glowing orb of void water.

“Ooh, this should be interesting!” Jirachi commented excitedly.

“Yes, indeed it would. We are personally going to see something outsiders rarely get to see,” The chief added, also sounding quite into the idea.

Both me and Nava were, of course, on board as well as we also gazed up with great anticipation and excitement to what was to come.

“Alright, you all know what needs to be done. Spread out evenly around the chamber and do your part. Victini will do the rest afterwards.” Rosette ordered, which made the band of eight Rose guards nod at her request.

They all did as they were asked, spreading out around the room and forming a circle right under Victini and the mysterious glowing orb of void water above him.

The collection of roserades then started to simultaneously perform the “Magical Leaves” move as a huge amount of radiant leaves suddenly flew out of their upward extended arms. Though what was immediately noticeable about these particular leaves was that they all had this ethereal blue glow around them instead of the merits of colors “Magical Leaves” is known for.

What was even more perplexing though was that the light surrounding the leaves suddenly increased with another field of purple around them, completely in sync with Victini’s own body above, who had his arms extended off his sides and seemed to be in a world of utmost concentration. Our eyes were fully fixed on this never before seen spectacle, especially when the leaves suddenly started to move upwards towards Victini and rotating around him with ever-increasing speed, giving us a mesmerizing vortex of ethereal lights and even brighter shining orb above us, bathing Victini in an aura of light which just looked out of this world.

To say that we were in awe by this would have been an understatement, even Jirachi and the chief were glued in place.

The orb above us suddenly began to shine with its own ethereal blue as the speed of Victini's vortex intensified. Jirachi was especially entranced by this.

“The psychic energy… the psychic energy of the void… I… I can feel it,” We heard Jirachi mutter next to us as the spectacle was quickly drawing to its grand finale by the looks of it.

Suddenly, Victini flung his extended hands towards the orb. The vortex followed its master’s gesture before literally disappearing into the ball of void water above, causing it to suddenly explode in a flash of light and forcing us all to shield our eyes and look away.

Once the glare subsided, it was very clear that something has changed, or rather something WAS changing around the room the moment we reopened our eyes. We were all astounded to see that the entire room suddenly shared the same ethereal glow as the orb and leaves did. Most strong and notable of those that were suddenly appearing swivels and swirls of bright white light inside the void water which were swiftly extending outward from the orb, slowly snaking their way towards one side of the room where something similar to a gateway was slowly forming on the void water’s surface.

We were again all completely entranced by this spectacle before us, as the swirling lines made contact with the forming gate before lighting its silhouette, forming a fully void water made archway and an ethereal glowing passageway in its center.

The gateway was activated and ready to be passed through by anyone bold enough to do so, or so it seemed at the moment. Still have to actually wait for the confirmation of either Victini, Rosette or Pericles that the procedure was a success.

“Is… is that it?” Ampharos asked as he looked at the gateway with wide eyes.

Victini nodded as he came floating down. “Yes, this is it. The gateway is now open and fully stable. Whoever wishes to be bold enough to step through first, may do so under their own risk of course. As we have no idea what might actually be waiting on the other side once you pass through the threshold,” he confirmed.

This was practically all the confirmation I needed to know to give this portal an immediate shot. Nava, on the other hand, seemed to be a bit more reluctant in comparison, but then again he always been the more careful one.

He had always been the louder voice of reason between the two of us, while I was the more overzealous and overconfident of us two.

Yes, I am calling myself overconfident, because these scrapes and bruises on my body don’t lie, and are rather hard to hide… unless they eventually heal away, then they are gone, and I can go back to being little miss Braggy McBrag. ;)

“Well, well, well. I guess it would be up to us then to take a look as to where this portal might lead us to, though you previously said that this portal only works for places which have already been visited by the Isle in the past. Isn’t that correct?” The chief curiously asked looking over at Rosette for confirmation.

Rosette nodded. ”Well, yes, but the thing about this particular world we chose is that its only been visited by the past inhabitants of the Isle for only a couple of hours before eventually disappearing again into our world. So it’s basically completely unexplored and untouched by any Pokémon related influences. Which is good, because that means that you, expert explorers, can fully do your work which mine ancestors neglected to do,” Rosette practically beamed, which in turn made Ampharos smile while rubbing the back of his head.

“Well, yeah, that is what the Expedition Society is famed for. To boldly go where no Pokémon has gone before!” He openly stated, striking one of his signature poses with added flashes of lightning.

Again, I was never really sure where exactly these flashes were coming from, but then again, at this point, I could hardly care less about them either. You just tend to get used to it around the chief if you have been living and working with the Expedition Society as long as we have.

“Well, whatever the chief likes makes me want to jump on board as well. I, too, would love to see this new world myself and see if its stars match our own or not,” Jirachi stated as well, also smiling at the concept of a new possible adventure.

“Yeah, we are ready to do our part as well. To help write history for Poke-kind and to be ones of the first to set foot on the new world!” I called out with much vigor, which Nava confirmed with a simple nod as usual.

Rosette smiled at this. “Well, alright then, the gate will now forever stay open unless something interrupts its flow or is being tampered with, and even if it ever does, Victini and the Rose Guard here can just re-open it for you in case of an emergency. So overall, there is really no real risk of getting yourself stranded over there. Safety first, after all. Even for experts such as your teams,” Rosette happily explained, which was rather good to hear.

Because no matter how exciting this opportunity might be, getting yourself stranded in an unknown world with no easy way of going back is never a very nice thought to have. Especially with the places we got dragged through in the past… unwillingly, of course.

“Well, go ahead and prepare yourself if you are truly decided to pass through the portal. Again, as Victini has stated, who knows what might actually be on the other side once you pass through the threshold. So you better prepare while you still can,” Rosette added, before Victini decided to butt in.

“Actually, I think I would love to go with them as well. Certainly wouldn’t hurt, now would it?” He announced, getting everyone’s attention.

“Wait, really?” Rosette asked.

Victini just nodded. “Yeah, why not. I personally have never gotten out of the Isle whenever we did warp ourselves somewhere else that isn’t the Pokémon world. So this, and the fact that is it practically unexplored territory, would just be perfect opportunity to stretch my arms a bit so to speak,” He responded with a smile.

“Well, let’s just ask Pericles first if he is okay with it?” Rosette suggested before switching her gaze to the aforementioned Roserade.

Pericles also just nodded. “I don’t see why not. As long as he’ll give me the rest of his carrot stash back at his room, I am totally fine with him ditching this place to go have fun in another world,” He casually responded, making us almost laugh at the fact that he could sometimes only think about his carrots in the most inconvenient ways.

Well, both me and Nava found this attitude kind of funny at least.

“Well, in that case, I personally don’t see any problems, either. But you are momentarily abandoning your decades old job in basically being Pericles's partner and companion. Are you sure about this?” Rosette asked again, though this time with a more worried tone.

“Ah, it will be fine, plus I am sure a band of two kids will have more use of my skills than a guy who could casually punch massive holes through walls and not even care if said wall was even an ancient relic or not. We both have completely outgrown ourselves, especially in strength,” He answered with confidence before floating over towards us.

It immediately got my attention. “Wait… partner? Companion? What does he mean by that?” I questioned myself.

Seriously, this little tidbit of news was certainly new to me. Never before… or rather ever since we knew these Pokémon personally during a couple of times we bumped into each other at either the towns, the HQ, or even out in a ruin or two, it was never really implied that these two actually had a history of being legit partners.

Granted, there had been the vague sense that these two worked together. But actual partners of companions? That is certainly new. But still, this certainly raises a lot more questions about these two than ever before. First, the random comments or curious looks Pericles sometimes sends our way whenever we mention our achievements to him, and now he also added history of these two possibly having a more in-depth past than they like to let on, or rather act out in public whenever these two are together.

I don’t want to start jumping into conclusions here, but this could potentially garner some good old questioning whenever the opportunity to do so shows itself.

Obviously not right now, as we are in the middle of an active decision on who gets to go into the portal first and who does not. Well, it’s certainly going to be me and Nava, because this is exactly what we have been hoping for this whole entire time.

This is our chance to help write history and I am NOT going to let this opportunity slip through my fingers so freaking easily. No matter how small my arms really are or my aforementioned fingers. If there are bad guys waiting for us on the other side, then so be it. We have managed to defeat legendaries and neutralize Dark Matter itself all in the same run. Granted, we were in our evolved stages at the time thanks to my old scarves, but I would say, and with extremely high confidence, that we are ready for whatever challenges this new world is going to…

“Glade… uhm, Glade, hello?” The voice of Ampharos suddenly pierced my ears which immediately brought me out of my thoughts and back into reality.

Well, that, and the ominous waving of a yellow arm right in front of my face was doing a pretty damn good job as well.

“Well… maybe she isn’t as ready with this as I originally thought she would...” The chief was about to say before I swiftly sprang back up to action while giving him a very sheepish smile.

“Wha-what… no, no, I am ready and fine. I mean… uh… I am totally fine and ready to be one of the first to pass through the portal. I was just… spaced out back there with all the possible things and expectations that might be waiting for us over there. So, yeah…” I responded, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly.

Ampharos just gave me a strange, but also slightly worried look before physically shrugging and going back to his usual cheerful self.

I sighed at that. “Dodged a bullet there, he might have actually placed us on the backburner first, not allowing us to go until the rest of the team got in first,” I again thought to myself.

“Well, in that case, I guess, it will still be up to the two of you to be the first to enter the portal and see what may actually lay beyond its borders,” Ampharos stated making me smile, same for Nava, though more controlled than mine of course.

“But what about you, Ampharos? Aren’t you going to come with us?” I asked, giving him a curious look.

To my surprise, he shook his head. “Sorry, but no can do,” He stated before looking back down at us. “I mean, we aren’t even exactly sure if the exit point is even safe or not. If the two of you could go there first and confirm that it is safe indeed, then I would be certainly very thankful, and most likely the rest of our members as well,” He beamed, which in turn caused both Nava and I to just look up at him with awkward smiles.

“Did… did he really just openly state that he is using us as guinea pigs before stepping through the portal himself?” I thought to myself.

But alas, I guess someone really has to take the lead first, making sure that everything is truly safe for the others to step through. I mean, this is just part of being an explorer anyway. Being ready to take the bullet for the others when said others don’t want to.

I turned my attention to Jirachi next. “But what about you then, Jirachi, are you not going to come with us as well?” I asked once more.

Again, to my slight surprise and even bigger disappointment, Jirachi shook his head. “Nope, sorry, or at least not now anyway as I still need to personally fly back to HQ and inform everyone about our status and the once in a lifetime opportunity that has been offered to us. Wouldn’t be fair to leave the rest of the gang hanging, now would it?” He responded.

“Wait, can’t you just also do it with the expedition gadgets? Like, contact Dedenne and let her pass along the news to the rest?” I questioned, feeling generally confused by this as to how someone as smart as him can overlook that.

“Well…” He began, “The thing is… both me and the chief actually managed to forget both of our gadgets back at HQ while we were in a great hurry to get here,” He sheepishly smiled while also rubbing the back of his head.

Ampharos casually nodded to that, which in turn made both of us flinch in shock.

“Seriously?” I replied before remembering something. “Wait, we have our own Expedition gadget with us. We can just use ours to contact Dedenne so that you don’t have to…” I immediately stopped myself from peering into my bag and seeing that it had basically everything BUT the expedition gadget inside it.

I was starting to panic. “Uh… Nava, can you maybe check if the Expedition Gadget is inside you back bag instead? I… I obviously don’t have it here besides for a bunch of Ethers, Oran Berries and the likes,” I asked to which Nava quickly nods before removing his back bag and peering inside.

“Uh… nope, just a couple of sleep and petrifying orbs and a couple of revive seeds. No Expedition gadget here,” He responded with great worry, which in turn made my sense of panic go sky high.

“What the… how could we possibly…” I was about to shout before a tap on my shoulder stopped me from fully doing so.

“Actually, I might have something to do with that.” Jirachi suddenly stated.

“Huh? What exactly do you…” I was about to ask before the realization hit me.

Jirachi simply nodded to that while I frowned. “Right… we actually forgot to go pick it up from your shop, after you offered to upgrade everyone’s Expedition gadget with the latest software and newly added functions.” I sighed before turning back to Nava.

“Well… seems like we have to go on without our gadget then. Man, today almost feels like a complete mess, doesn’t it?” I sighed once more which Nava agreed on.

“Well, if you are all finally done in making up your minds, then I would suggest that we finally get this show rolling. Let’s go out there and see where this portal truly leads us!” Victini suddenly announced, causing all to flinch at the sheer enthusiasm and zeal of his call.

Someone is ready to explore, it seems.

“Yeah, I think I am with Victini on this one. Let’s just finally go and see where this adventure is going to take us this time. It’s not the first time that we had to go through portals, after all, so it shouldn’t be too bad,” Nava suddenly butted in, smiling as well.

I nodded to that. “Well, yeah, I guess you’re right,” I responded, before suddenly dashing off towards the portal without warning. “The last one to reach the other side is going to be tasked with the job of collecting all the necessary firewood for tonight’s camp!” I shouted back, being only a couple of meters away from the portal.

“Hey, wait up, Glade!” I heard Nava call out behind me as I continued my mad and brave dash.

Well, I would have, if a certain someone didn’t just teleport himself right in front of me, forcing me to skit to a halt to prevent a collision.

“Well, it certainly won’t be me then,” Victini happily announced before flying straight into the portal and disappearing.

I was flabbergasted at first, but quickly regained my vigor and competitive nature, jumping into the portal as well.

“Not on me, you won’t!” I called out before disappearing into the portal.

And let me tell you, traveling through a portal is always weird. I think the forces of time and space are always pulling on my tail. Which is obviously very uncomfortable.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“YaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! OOF!”

“Ugh, I hate traveling through a portal. Have I ever told this to anyone?” I mumbled, while my face was busy kissing the ground.

I was about to pick myself up when the second set of screams suddenly entered my ears which caused me to flinch. Soon enough though, that flinch was quickly upgraded with a yelp and a thud, as I swiftly found myself face hugging the ground once more, alongside with the sensation of something heavy crashing right into my back.

So this is how my first ever trip to a brand new world is going to start, huh? A face full of mud and grime, and possibly a broken back too.

Yup, this is already shaping up to be a great start, and I haven’t even begun to do something stupid or reckless yet.

“Well, this was certainly the most intense trip I ever have gone through,” I heard Nava mumble above me.

“Mmmpf, uhmpg hmmmupmf!”

“Huh, what?”

“Can you please get off of me?” I finally screamed after I pulled my head out of the dirt for a second time.

“Sorry for that, Glade,” Nava apologized before giving me the respite I needed by getting off my sore back.

I immediately pushed myself back up and started to dust myself off, arching my back with a painful and satisfying crack.

I shook my head at him after the somewhat painful deed was done. ”Nah, its fine, nothing compared to the stuff I seem to always drag you through. I guess some things will never change from the day we first meant. Going to stay reckless and super hyped for almost every new adventure we get ourselves in.” I casually responded, giving him a small smile to show him that everything was fine.

He just tilted his head knowingly before smiling.

“So, uhm… where are we, did it really work?” I eventually said after a while as I started to look around.

“Most certainly,” Victini suddenly stated as he came floating down next to us, before fixing his gaze at something which was behind us. “But still… this is certainly very peculiar,” He added, raising an eyebrow, even though he didn’t have any.

Both Nava and I followed his gaze, only to find ourselves immediately intrigued by what we saw was behind us. Besides the portal itself, there was also something very recognizable surrounding the portal. It was an arch, though not just any arch, but the same arch you can find decorating the front entrance of the Citadel back through the portal, alongside with very distinguishable statues of very well known Pokémon.

Only everything on a much smaller scale, and a lot less… maintained.

“Wait, I thought you just said that we are indeed in a brand new world? So what are two very obvious statues of roselias doing here in front of the portal?” I confusingly asked, gazing up at the weathered forms of two very distinct statues of said Pokémon in front of us.

“Don’t know, but what I do know for a fact is that THIS reality we are in is more or less new and completely untouched by Poke-kind, as far as I know.” Victini stated while eyeing the statues with a critical eye.

Both me and Nava, on the other hand, were just confused by this. Again, if Victini’s claims were true, then we are obviously standing right in a brand new world with no other Pokémon in sight. But if that is the case, then what are two obviously old looking statues of true roselias doing here, in the middle of the dense looking forest.

“Wait… is it even night or day now?” I questioned, before looking up at the sky and seeing… well… nothing. Just a sky filled with branches and leaves, and a lot of vines, too.

“Great, can’t even properly tell if it is a day or not,” I muttered, frowning at the overgrown canopy above us.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“I wonder what that blink of light was?” The little filly asked herself as she gazed out her room's window and off into the direction where the mystery was.

Granted, she didn’t really see much thanks to the hill standing in-between the village and the forest. But she still could see a sudden beam of light shooting upwards into the heavens before disappearing just as quickly as it came.

She didn’t know what the heck that light was, but she could tell that it must have came from the illusive looking forest that she and her brother visited not too long ago.

“Lucky Clover, lights out, we don’t have that much lamp oil as it is!” Her mother suddenly shouted from the other room, which almost shocked her.

She swiftly extinguished the little oil lamp she had in front of her window before crawling back into her bed. She gave one last glance at her already sleeping brother before turning her head back to the window, thinking about the beam of light she saw on the horizon before finally burying herself within her blanket and calling it a night.

Even in her sleep, she still wonders what may actually be out there.

Chapter 3: Getting things into Motion

View Online

Chapter 3: Getting things into motion

Edited by Samallan

“And… what do you see up there?” I called out while trying to see past the overgrown canopy Nava has jumped up to.

His head suddenly popped out from beyond the wall of leaves and branches.

“Well, we are certainly in a forest, a medium size one if I had to guess. With large mountains flanking us from the west, and large open hills and meadows bordering us from the east. Overall nothing special or difficult to traverse once I make it outside the forest. Minus the mountain range, of course,” Nava shouted back before he started his slow and careful descent back down.

“You know… I could have easily just flown up there myself without the added hassle,” Victini commented as he came floating right next to me.

I scratched my head. “Yeah… I guess you could have,” I mumbled after realizing this myself. But then again, Victini actually volunteered to be on campfire duty when Nava and I decided to check out our surroundings and pulled sticks on who has the pleasure of climbing up the thick canopy above to do just that...

Granted, this idea doesn’t really do much when you take into consideration that we are in a completely different world without any point of reference or recognizable landmarks anywhere. But hey, it’s still better than going completely blind in this, so we might as well.

“By the way, how is the campfire doing, Victini?” I asked after Nava returned from his vantage point.

Victini just crossed his arms and beamed. “Long taken care of. I am a part fire type, after all, so making campfires is really no issue for me,” He answered, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the aforementioned campfire he made, which was roaring… alongside with a bush… and a tree right next to it.

Both me and Nava were staring at the quickly developing inferno completely dumbfounded, while Victini was simply oblivious to what was happening behind him. Or he actually did knew and just wanted to burn down the forest for… some reason.

“Uh… Victini, you’re… uhh…” I tried to point out before the flames managed to engulf yet another tree.

Not sure what type of fire this is, but it certainly does seem to spread itself a lot faster than regular fire normally does. Even the aforementioned campfire has just stopped burning on its own, thanks to the fact that it was nothing but ash at this point.

Though, thankfully, I didn’t have to say more as the flames have eventually grown to such a size, that the previously dark looking forest was suddenly very well illuminated, alongside with the air temperature being a bit higher as well.

Not to mention the noticeable long shadows that just appeared.

“Uhm… why is it suddenly so…” Victini tried to say before he finally made the effort to turn around and immediately saw the issue.

I could tell that his eyes were going wide, even though I couldn’t see them at the moment.

“AHHH! WHAT THE!? HOW THE HECK DID THIS HAPPENED?!” I screamed, grabbing his head in the added panic which we immediately contracted.

“AHHH! WE GOT TO SNUFF THEM OUT BEFORE THE ENTIRE FOREST STARTS TO BURN DOWN AROUND US!” I also screamed before turning my attention to Nava.

“Quick, you are a water type, use your water base moves before it becomes even worse!” I shouted, pointing at the ever-expanding inferno with a shaky finger.

To my surprise and added sense of panic and even slight confusion, Nava simply shook his head. “I can’t! All I know is either Bubble gun or Water pulse. No Water gun or Hydro pump which would obviously do a much better job than these two!” He shouted back.

“WHAT!? But… but you did use the hydro pump when you were…” I tried to say before Nava swiftly interrupted me.

“That was only when the two of us were in our evolved stages! I obviously don’t know how to do it now!” He shouted back.

“Would you two stop your whining and just do something already!” Victini suddenly butted in which forced the two of us to look at him.

He quickly looked at Nava. “You, Bubble gun and Water pulse are good enough. A Water move is a water water, so go there and use them!” He strictly ordered, forcing Nava to instinctively salute before dashing off to do his part.

He then turned to me. “You, use your Leaf tornado to snuff out the fire around the edges and keep your distance,” He instructed me which also caused me to salute out of pure instinct.

“But what about you?” I just had to ask.

“Simple,” He stated with a frown before he eyes and hands started to glow. “I am going to use sand and dirt to bury the flames!” He boldly stated before a large lump of dirt and sand suddenly began to rise behind him as he said so.

I was, of course, momentarily mesmerized by this before quickly returning to my senses. I shook my head and sported a look of determination before running towards Nave to help him.

Again, what an amazing start to this adventures of ours. If this has any possibility to get any worse, then I obviously have no idea what else could possibly happen to seriously make this worse.

But even so, one thing was certain.

BRING IT ON, UNIVERSE! BRING.IT.ON!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“So, the portal is really working then?” Dedenne asked in both interest and excitement.

Jirachi nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. We have now been given the permission by the leaders of the Isles to use the portal whenever we want and to explore the mysteries and secrets which may exist beyond its threshold. Pretty neat and exciting stuff if I have to say so myself!” Jirachi beamed.

“I say…” Swirlix stated. “I can’t wait to see and taste all the new and exotic delicacies that this new world might offer. The thought alone is enough to make me hungry,” She licked her lips.

“You are always hungry, Swirlix,” Buizel pointed out, which in turn made Swirlix just smile before her tummy started to rumble.

“Oh, talking about food makes me so very hungry, too. Excuse me for a moment,” She announced before dashing off to the kitchen.

The collective gang just sighed before returning their attention back to Jirachi.

Archen was the next to step up. “So, as you pointed out before, we have now full permission to enter the Rose Isles whenever we want? Previously, access for outsiders was heavily restricted with only a select few so far. Those ones of these selected few being both Nava and Glade, and, of course, you and the chief as well,” He wondered, getting nods and hums of agreement from the collective members.

Jirachi nodded. “Well, I would believe so,” He began before looking somewhat unsure. ”It was only stated that the portal is now free for use, but it was never fully stated that the rest of the gang was free to visit the Isles themselves if I had to be honest. I guess I should have asked Rosette about the details first before coming here,” He added, scratching his head.

“Well, you made it back here in record time anyway. Why not just fly back and make sure that what she said is exactly what you think it means?” Dedenne suggested.

“Hmm, maybe...” Jirachi began before quickly realizing something. “Oh, yeah, of course, the Expedition gadgets!” He perked up with a snap of his fingers.

“What about them?” Dedenne questioned, tilting her head.

“Oh, nothing much, just that both I and the chief have forgotten to bring them along when we were invited to come to the Isles this morning,” He responded, getting awkward silence from the crew in return.

Well, minus Dedenne, of course. “So that is why I was unable to reach you two or the two rookies when I was trying to.” She complained.

“Well… mistakes happen, even for a genius like myself,” Jirachi stated with a sheepish laugh.

“Anyway, let me just go get them then so that I can be off,” He announced before flying up the stairs and leaving assembly of expedition members alone at the entrance hall of the HQ.

He reached his observatory rather quickly, which has also been converted into his personal workshop after old Pokémon and potential human-made tech was starting to pour into the storage rooms and archives after the onslaught of expedition contracts and new discoveries that followed after the Dark Matter crises.

The life of a genius is never an easy one. But still very much rewarding if it means extending their understanding and overall knowledge of their world and the universe as a whole.

“Oh, hey there, Mr. Jirachi, didn’t realize that you came back so soon,” Espurr greeted after she suddenly came around the large Telescope in the room with large stacks of papers floating behind her.

Jirachi smiled. “Well, greetings to you too, Espurr, and yes, I had to personally fly back here to both relay some critical news to the team while also getting something from my shop,” He stated, before floating over to his workbench.

He was momentary confused. “Uh… where are the…” He was about to say before the items he was looking for came floating over to him.

“Did you mean the Expedition Badges? I actually took the time to re-assemble some of the outside parts back together while you were gone. Should be good to go now as they are,” Espurr explained.

Jirachi took them within his own telekinesis and smiled. “Thanks, ever since I have allowed you to be both my assistant and apprentice, you have been nothing but helpful and super-fast with your learning process. You really might have the brains of a genius yourself if I had to guess,” He praised, which in turn made the Espurr beam.

“Thanks, I am trying my best as usual,” She responded.

Jirachi simple continued to smile at that before levitating a bag from a nearby shelf and swinging it over his shoulder. He then placed the gadgets into its empty space before making for the door.

Well, almost. “What about Nava and Glade? Are they still there as well?” Espurr suddenly asked, forcing Jirachi to stop.

He turned around. “Well, no, they are actually exploring a brand new world as we speak,” He answered. Unbeknownst to him, they were actually trying to prevent a major catastrophe, made by none other than Victini with his own recklessness and overall rusty experience when it comes to adventuring.

Espurr was honestly not surprised by that. “Well, knowing them, I am honestly not surprised that they did go in first. Quite typical of these two,” She comment to which Jirachi nodded.

“Yeah. Well, anyway. I am off, you can just take a break if you want to, Espurr. There really doesn’t seem to be anything else you could possibly do here,” He stated before taking his leave a second time.

“Let’s see if I can beat Celebi’s time score this time. Just got to go faster, while at the same time not losing my bag along the way. Shouldn’t be too hard, or so I think,” Jirachi muttered to himself after he exited through the main entrance of the HQ, immediately taking off.

Unbeknownst to him, he was watched from behind the shadows as he flew.

“Perfect, Gallade would be happy to hear this,” The mysterious looking figure stated before quickly disappearing in a puff of shadows.

Nobody noticed, which is just what it wanted.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I and Nava were gasping like crazy after the last pinch of a fire was finally put out. Which was kinda bad as we were basically gasping out smoke as well.

Our gasps quickly turned into coughs.

“Well, this was certainly a disaster what almost happened,” Victini gasped as well, which in turn made both of us glare at him as this was basically his fault, to begin with.

He knew that which is why he just awkwardly smiled.

“Hey, at least we did a fine good job in preventing a natural catastrophe. A… natural catastrophe caused by me… because I… completely forgot just how hot my flames can truly be...” He mumbled that last part out, which in turn just made the two of us look at him with a bit of a sympathy.

I know that he didn’t do it on purpose, but still, mistakes do tend to happen regardless.

I chuckled a bit. “Well… at least we now have a nice big dirt wall to lean against on for the night, or perhaps we could also use the newly formed ditch over there to give ourselves some more cover than just sleeping out in the open,” I commented, pointing a finger at the aforementioned ditch.

Seriously, Victini has managed to dig a pretty sizable hole with his telekinesis, while also creating a big wall of dirt, sand and burned wood as a result.

This guy would be a champ at a sand castle building contest, even having a winning chance against the ground type Pokémon if he wanted to.

But alas, it is at least good to know that we have managed to stop a forest fire before it could become an even bigger forest fire. So, overall, still good and still manageable for a start.

“Damn… I don’t think I will be able to perform another Bubble gun or Water pulse anytime soon. I am totally beat...” Nava commented before he leaned against the aforementioned dirt wall to rest his ash-covered body.

I quickly followed his example after I realized just how beaten I was too. Spamming Leaf tornado over and over again tends to do that. This seriously has been one heck of a start without having gotten anything meaningful done besides knowing the general layout of the land.

That actually makes me think. “So… where are we going to go from here once morning finally arrives?” I asked out loud, tapping my snout. “I would personally love to check out the mountains first, not just for the added challenge but also for the fact that it would give us a nearly perfect view of the entire land around us once we reach its peaks,” I suggested.

Nava just sighed, probably out of tiredness, while Victini just hummed to himself in thought. “Well, again, I can just easily take to the skies and do this job myself without having the two of you waste your energies in scaling up a mountain,” He commented before crossing his arms and giving me a curious look. “Not a big fan of thinking outside the box, are you?” He added, which I took as a bit of offense, as he was basically saying that I was dumb.

It may be true to some extent, but that still doesn’t mean it needs to be pointed out.

“Hey, at least I didn’t cause a forest fire while trying to make a simple campfire. I mean… what was up with that?” I retorted back, crossing my arms.

Victini flinched at that remark before looking off to the side.

“Well…” He began. ”It’s just that I have been a little bit rusty when it comes to surviving out in the wild. I have been spending way too much time just hanging out on the Isles that I have somewhat forgotten how to do things outside of it. That, and I also haven’t gotten a lot of chances to, quote-unquote, flex my muscles a bit. I really have gotten stale over the many years, haven’t I?” He explained, giving off a sad sigh before floating on top of a fallen tree trunk and sitting down on it.

This actually made me remember something. A little tidbit of information that has been given not too long ago.

I turned my attention back to Victini with a question in mind.

“Hey, Victini?” I called out to get his attention, which I got. “Rosette mentioned something about you and Pericles being partners before, right? Was it similar to what I and Nava have now, or was it something different back in the day? Sorry if I am suddenly asking this out of the blue, but… I am just really curious is all,” I asked, nervously twiddling my fingers.

Victini, on the other hand, seemed to be a bit surprised by this as he just silently sat there on his stump, looking down onto the ground.

He eventually seemed to have come to a mental conclusion judging by his change of expression before finally looking back up at us with another sigh.

“You know what… why not. Especially since we here,” He began before looking back up. ”I guess it doesn’t hurt to tell two kids a bit of my backstory, does it?” He sighed again before looking straight at us.

“Before you ask, yes, I and Pericles used to be partners, or rather even companions and friends for a super long time if you want to get a little bit more specific. Kinda… like the two of you right now as an example,” He announced, getting shocked gasp and wide eye expression from both of us from this flat and pretty much direct revelation.

“These two used to be just like us? Maybe even adventurers too?” I thought to myself before quickly regaining my composure.

Well, some of it at least.

“Wait… you’re two really used to be just like Nava and I? Companions and partners through thick and thin?” I again asked, which in turn awarded me a simple and straightforward nod from the Pokémon in front of me which was just crazy.

I always knew that these two might have more going on in between themselves during a couple of times we have seen them around town. Always being traveling together, sometimes even with Rosette.

But never would I have imagined that their backstory could really go so far and so deep. The fact that they once used to be just like us is just surprising on its own.

Though, this makes me wonder…

“Then, what happened?” I suddenly asked out loud instead of keeping it inside my head like how I first wanted.

“Huh… what do you mean?” Victini quickly responded, looking and sounding quite confused.

I swiftly recomposed myself after the mistake and simply decided to press on. More for curiosity’s sake than anything else.

“I mean, what happened to the two of you then? You said that the two of you USED to be partners. So, my question was, what happened? What made the two of you lose your long time partnership?” I clarified, going back to twiddling my thumbs, more out of habit, really.

Victini simply hummed to himself before shrugging. “Nothing really, times just changed, that’s all. Pericles eventually became the new Argentum Resurrexit of the Isles, while I became the new gatekeeper in comparison. So, I guess… the two of us just eventually grew up, and focused more on our new positions rather than adventuring like how we used to,” He casually explained, getting a bit of a distant look before shaking his head and rubbing it.

“Well, that was a bit strange,” I thought to myself.

“Wait…” Nava suddenly perked up. “What does this… Argentimu… arge… uhm.”

“Argentum Resurrexit,” Victini corrected for him.

Nava nodded. “Yes, what does it mean?” He asked, which I guess I can follow along.

Victini smiled. ” Well, it simply translates to Silver Rose. It’s just a more fancy way of naming it,” He answered which made Nava nod.

“Okay… but there is something else…” Nava continued. ”You guys always used the word decades, as if the two of you are really decades old. How exactly is that possible and is it even true that the two of you are that old?” Nava asked, which in turn made Victini cross his arms while looking off to the side.

“Well, yes and no,” He answered, sounding a bit unsure.

“Huh… what is that supposed to mean?” I ask this time, which made Victini sigh.

“It simply means that both answers are kinda correct,” He answered before rubbing his head. “Sorry, but… I am one of the last persons you should ask when it comes to time-related questions,” He added before looking back up at us. “The point is that the flow of time kinda works… a lot differently on the Isle then it does anywhere else, thanks to time dilation and displacement with the Isles constant shifts and changes from place to place or world to world. And to top it all, the natural passage of time in between worlds can be totally different as well. So overall, you can say that we both are and aren’t decades old, thanks to the fact that the Isles aren’t really affected by time normally like how most places are. We do still age there, but… thanks to the confusing nature of time on it, we simply age really, really slow. That’s… that all I can personally tell on that question… sorry,” He finished before again rubbing his head.

I, too, was rubbing mine at this point, though more out of confusion rather than physical pain like what he was feeling judging by his expression. I guess I should remember to ask Celebi about this when I get the chance. I am sure she could do a much better job in explaining this whole… time mess than he could.

Either way, this buttload of information was certainly going to take some time to process. My own head already starts to hurt from just trying to think about making sense with this whole “decade-old” thing.

But still, this certainly opens up a lot more cans about these two. To really realize that these two used to be just like Nava and me with an almost childish knack for adventures themselves is just… really interesting, to say the least.

Victini suddenly coughed. “Well… uhm, anyway. You two better hit the hay. We do have a very long day ahead of us if you two are still in the mood for exploration and what not,” He stated.

“Heck yeah we are, I mean this is just…” I tried to say before a yawn quickly cut that off.

“Man, I really am tired, aren’t I? Then again, this whole disastrous start has been nothing but exhausting. Better take the hint and just sleep it off as Victini offered,” I thought to myself before leaning myself right against the dirt wall behind me to doze off.

Nava did the same, giving off a quick yawn of his own before resting his back. But not without removing his backpack first.

I quickly did the same thing with mine, removing the sling from my shoulder and just placing it next to Nava’s. This actually gave me another idea as I quickly changed my position and carefully laid my head against my bag

Who knew that Oran Berries can make good pillows?

“What about you, Victini? Aren’t you going to sleep as well?” I questioned.

Victini shook his head. “Nah, I am really not that tired. Plus…” He began to look around himself. ”Someone does have to keep an eye on our surroundings in case something or someone wants to jump us at the night. Again, a new world equals new possibilities in terms of never before seen dangers. Better to be safe than sorry,” He answered which in turn made me scuff a bit.

“Oh, come on, so far the trees and bushes around us look pretty similar to the ones we have back in our world. I doubt that there could be too much of a difference out here,” I added, making him cross his arms.

“Uh… I wouldn’t really be so sure about that. You should keep in mind that the Isles have been to many exotic looking places before, even places that look a lot like our world in terms of flora and fauna, but completely different in terms of creatures. So don’t let the trees and bushes fool you,” He responded with a level look.

“Yeah… I guess you're right about that,” I added, before giving off another yawn.

I was about to close my eyes when the portal in front of us suddenly began to flicker. I was about to say something to that when a sudden scream started to come from the very vortex of the portal before a large yellow blob came flying out of it.

Right towards me, with breakneck speed.

“AHHHHHHHH, WATCH OUT!!!” Was all I was able to hear before the world swiftly went dark for me.

Yup… definitely the worst start I ever had with new adventures.

Chapter 4: A first look at the Natives

View Online

Chapter 4: A first look at the natives

Edited by: Samellan

“I don’t know, but I have definitely seen smoke coming from the westward forest,” A stallion commented, which Lucky Clover and her brother Swift Hoof where able to overhear from where they were eavesdropping.

Judging by the ongoing commotion around the village and overall discussion of the villagers, a large column of smoke has been spotted at the direction where the mysterious forest was, which was having a somewhat negative effect on the grownups as a whole, once again leading towards statements of just how foreboding or perhaps cursed the forest really was.

For her and her brother, this was obviously just grown up misconceptions, but then again, the world outside their little village is indeed a dangerous regardless. Not just by word, but also proven by the many ponies or sometimes even gryphons that came passing by their little village. Sometimes telling tales of just how they managed to escape rampaging monsters along the way, or how a gang of bandits almost robbed them blind of all their belonging.

Travel through the long and unchecked routes that cut through no pony’s land has always been rather dangerous.

Though in comparison, life in the village wasn’t that much easier either, as the farms surrounding the community always needed to be tended almost every day to ensure a good yield at the end of the season. The village basically lives and dies with its agriculture, not just to keep themselves alive with food, but to also give them something to trade with when far off merchants and caravans stop by the small village to rest up.

It actually was kind of a good thing that the village is located right next to a well-used trading route which connects both the gryphon lands to the north and the earth pony city-states to the south. It is also really good that Clover and her family were actually living in unclaimed lands, as the tension between the other equine races down south were apparently pretty high if the stories and tales of the passing pony caravans were anything to go by.

Either way, none of this was really a concern for the two siblings as they were far too young to even understand grown-up politics. Plus, they were more interested in what happened in the forest to the west than anything else.

Bringing up a lot of curious questions inside their young and inexperienced minds.

“Well… it shouldn’t really bother us now, should it? For one, it is located far outside the village borders and we are not even using it to get our wood for either building material or cooking fuel. If the forest to the west does burn down, then so be it. It is rumored to be cursed anyway, so better to have it gone then still be there in my opinion,” Another pony stated, that being the father of both Clover and Swift.

“Well, either way, I should better head back out to the fields before Quick Wheat is going to have my head for not showing up on time. We can talk about this more back at the Pub later this evening, if you want,” The other stallion said before a set of hoofsteps could be heard leaving their front porch.

“Sure thing, and try not to break a leg this time. You know how angry Quick Wheat got when she heard that you were unable to join last season harvest. That mare can really break a fuse, I can tell you that!” Clover’s father could be heard shouting back as the sound of somepony closing the door could be heard all through the house afterward.

Both Clover and Swift quickly returned to their rooms after having eavesdropped on the grownups’ conversation and went straight back to doing what they used to be doing before this whole talk of the mysterious looking forest having caught on fire rang into their furred little ears.

Like Clover practicing her levitation, while Swift was busy catching up to some of his studies to be eventually accepted to one of the magic schools at the unicorn kingdom. Books were fairly expensive and quite valuable around here, which is why the books that Swift has been given actually dated back from a time when his grandpa was a young lad himself.

“Hey, you two, breakfast is ready if you want any!” their mother suddenly chimed in as she stood in front of the siblings’ room.

Both Clover and Swift perked up at that. “Oh, that’s great! I am starving, mom.” Swift commented with a smile before he and his sis quickly bolted out of their room to follow their mom to the small dining table they had inside their quaint little cottage.

Just like with most residences around the village beside a select few which were a bit richer than the rest, Quick Wheat being one of them, of course.

Even when busy chewing on their bread and cheese, both of the foals couldn’t help but think back to the forest and what could have possibly happened for it to start burning.

Was it maybe a passing dragon which caused it? Or maybe a lightning strike? But then again, if it was, then it would have been at least been noticeable for both scenarios. Either the spotting of a dragon flying past the village from the west or a storm cloud forming in the same direction despite the fact that it has been fairly clear this past couple of days.

Either way, it was a mystery, and certainly a mystery which has to wait as Swift had to attend school today while Clover has promised her mother to take care of the house.

Then again, even if they had the free time to explore the lands past the hills, they would certainly be immediately stopped by their parents for even thinking such thoughts.

It would certainly mean no dinner for the rest of the week and some well good scolding from their parents if they were ever caught doing so. Not a risk worth taking in their opinion.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I groggily regained consciousness after having been knocked out last night by some… very fast moving blob. To be honest, I was actually quite surprised by the fact that I was still alive after having been knocked out so hard, but also very much relieved that I didn’t die.

I mean, I have nothing against the possibilities of perhaps turning into a ghost Pokémon one day to continue my existence, but I can say with great confidence that I am FAR from ready to make such a drastic transition from one type to another.

And getting a new body again.

“Oh, hey, she is waking up,” I heard Victini say as my vision was slowly starting to clear from the blurry mess it was before.

“Ugh… where am I? Pop… I think I am going to stop snacking on your Persim berries from now on. I think that they are slowly starting to go into my head by the feel of it...” I quietly muttered, rubbing my forehead.

“Actually, no… this… this was actually my fault,” I heard a very recognizable voice say which made me turn my head to its source.

“What the… ch-chief… is that really you?” I questioned while looking up at a somewhat blurry form of Ampharos looking down at me.

“Yes… it is me,” He said before suddenly tearing up. ”AND I AM SORRY FOR HAVING ALMOST CRUSHED YOU, GLADE!” He screamed before I suddenly found myself getting grabbed by his arms and bear-hugged to death by him as a result.

If the collision with him yesterday didn’t kill me before, then this crushing death hug he was giving me certainly will, and the fact that I was getting drowned by his own tears too.

I thought that Ampharos was an Electric type, not a Water type.

“Uhm… Chief… you seem to be choking her,” I heard Jirachi point out my problems.

Wow, he is here, too?

“Oh…” The chief simply replied before finally releasing me from his bear hug letting me slide down his chest in a very unceremonious manner.

I immediately began gasping for air once I had the chance to do so.

Well, if I wasn’t perfectly awake before, I certainly am now,” Oh, dear goodness. I think I have almost seen the light back there. It was… it was almost too beautiful to behold...” I gasped out, trying to get as much air inside of me as possible.

After I was done, I finally started to look around for the first time. I could pretty much see everyone just standing around me with worry in their eyes. Most surprisingly, of course, was the fact that both Jirachi and Ampharos were among those worried souls staring down at me.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess that they must have taken the portal to get here. A portal that to my sudden shock didn’t exist anymore, which forced a sense of panic inside me despite my own current problems.

“Uh… guys, the port… the portal!” I pointed out, which in turn caused Victini to look at said portal before looking back with a smile.

“Oh, don’t worry. I can re-open it again from here as well if I have to. Whenever a connection is made, a small residue of the void will always be present on both ends, which gives me the ability to pinpoint and reconnect with the residue with my psychic connection. So again, don’t worry,” Victini reassured me, which, I guess, was good to hear.

I sighed, before pushing myself up from the ground and grunting a bit for how sore my body really felt.

“Are you okay?” Nava asked me as he came to my side.

“Yeah… yeah, I’ll live, don’t worry,” I replied, rubbing my back.

It really is always the back, isn’t it?

“Anyway… what are you guys doing here?” I eventually asked before looking up at both Ampharos and Jirachi.

“Well, giving you a hand, of course! You didn’t expect us to stay put when an opportunity of a lifetime presents itself to us, now do you?” Jirachi responded while crossing his arms with a challenging smile.

I smiled too, though a lot more sheepishly of course. “Well, of course not, such a thought would never cross my mind for a second… mostly because…” I turned my gaze to Victini. ”…we had completely different problems to worry about,” I replied which in turn made Victini whistle.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” He tried to act innocently, which obviously failed as the aftermath of what happened yesterday was still pretty much fresh all over the place. Something which Ampharos quickly noticed as he began to look around.

“My, my, my, what happened here? I mean, I already noticed it yesterday after I arrived, but I was just far too worried for Glade’s well-being back then to really give it much attention or thought. But now… well…” Ampharos began, looking at the carnage with a critical eye.

“Well, yeah, what happened here exactly?” Jirachi also eventually asked as he began to look around himself as well.

“Well, it was actually…” I tried to say before an invisible hand suddenly pushed me and sent me off flying into a bush.

“A forest fire! It was already happening when we arrived through the portal. One big surprise and shock that was. Which is why this wall of dirt and that ditch over there exist in the first place. I have used my telekinesis to bury the flames while the two kids did the rest with their own moves. It was one heck of a busy evening, let me tell you that.” I could hear him say from within the bush before following it up with an awkward laugh.

I am not sure if I have gotten out of bed on the wrong foot last morning, but it seriously seemed that the rest of yesterday and today was a “mess around with Glade” day. Because scrubs and scratches do seem to be the norm for me recently, alongside getting body slammed and hugged to death by an Ampharos who thinks he’s a Water type due to his excessive crying.

Not sure what else could possibly happen to me from this point on, but I am almost afraid to ask at this stage.

But either way, complaining about it is certainly not going to make things better, and staying occupied inside a bush isn’t going to help as well. So with a bit of a grunt, I quickly pulled myself out of the bush before flicking away any excess leaves and branches stuck to my form.

I sighed before slowly making my way towards Nava’s side who was giving me a worrisome look.

“Its fine, its fine, I am okay, don’t worry,” I replied trying to assure him that everything was fine.

Well… at least I hoped so.

“Well, anyway. Now that we are finally all accounted for and already had our fill of breakfast…” Ampharos tried to say before I quickly perked up at the mention of breakfast.

“Wait… you guys already had breakfast?” I asked, both shocked and somewhat depressed with the fact that they basically had their morning fill without me.

Jirachi nodded. “Yeah. I mean, we were still worried sick about you… but… the thing still is, that it is kinda hard to stay worried about someone while having an empty stomach. But don’t worry, we left something for you in case you were going to wake up before noon,” He casually stated, giving me a rather innocent looking smile which honestly did more harm than good in terms of this revelation.

I was almost emotionally dead inside at this point. “You… you guys were just happily eating… while… while I was still knocked out cold?” I asked before looking down on myself.

“Well… of course not,” Ampharos quickly stated. “We were… uhm… worriedly eating, not happily, of course. Doing otherwise would just be shameful on our part, to say the least. We would never stoop so low, Glade, and you know that! I hope...” Ampharos swiftly added with a sheepish smile.

“You do know that it was you who knocked her out in the first place, don’t you, chief?” Jirachi commented with a level look.

“I know, I know, and I am sorry as I said before. I mean, who could have predicted that traveling through a tunnel of space and time was going to end up with someone getting catapulted out of the portal instead of just… you know… flop out and fall face first into the ground or something? I certainly had no control over how I came out,” Ampharos defended himself while waving his arms in front of him.

This just made me feel even more emotionally dead inside, as that was practically the way how I got launched out of that blasted thing. Getting a face full of dirt as a welcoming greeting of this world.

Maybe this world doesn’t love Grass type Pokémon? Because so far it only has been me who has been forced to draw the short stick time and time again.

Maybe I should have taken Ampharos’s offer to actually hold off, and let these two go first before I and Nava did.

“Hey, Glade,” Nava suddenly poked me on the shoulder which in turn brought me back from the dead. I slowly turned my head to him, only to be greeted with a large steaming fruit sandwich in both of his hands.

I was a bit surprised, to say the least.

“Here, I saved you this from our breakfast,” He stated with a smile.

I smiled back before taking the morsel from his hand to mine.

“Thanks!” I simply responded before taking the first bite.

On second thought, maybe coming here first wasn’t such a bad idea after all. I mean, just imagine the damage that both Jirachi and Ampharos could have done accidentally if they did. These two are obviously a lot stronger than us, which means they could definitely do a lot more damage to their surroundings then we could. Well… minus for Victini, of course, as neither I nor Nava has any idea of how strong he really was.

Plus, I shouldn’t let a streak of bad luck hold me down. If I did that before, then I would certainly not be in the position I am now. So keep your head into the ballgame, Glade. Setbacks are what make life so interesting in the first place.

“So, then it’s settled.” I heard Jirachi state after I managed to pull myself back to the present after I was done with my sandwich.

“What is settled?” I asked, having obviously missed most of the ongoing conversation while having been entranced by the sandwich’s taste.

Say what you want about Swirlix’s eating problems. That girl can cook amazingly well, let me tell you that.

“Well, simply,” Jirachi began before pointing in a random direction. “We are going to climb those mountains to the west, to give ourselves a perfect lookout point to view the surrounding lands and get ourselves a better image of its layout. From there, marking and memorizing important landmarks for references would be easy, which in turn would allow us more room to expand our exploration and perhaps even make maps of this place for easier future reference and navigation. All in that order,” He announced happily, much to both of surprise and a slight sense of betrayal.

“Hey… I actually suggested that idea first yesterday!” I called out, pointing a finger at myself.

Ampharos smiled. “Well, of course, we know. Which is why Victini here has offered it as our next course of action while you were busy eating and not paying attention,” He stated, which in turn made me look over at Victini with a raised eyebrow.

“Huh… and here I thought you said that we should really waste our time and energy to go climb up a mountain simply because you can fly,” I asked, crossing my arms.

Victini, on the other hand, rubbed the back of his head. “Well, yeah… I kinda did say that, didn’t I?” He began before looking back up. ”But the thing is, what’s the point of exploring a new world when all you do is constantly taking shortcuts in order to reach your goal? One of the things that makes exploring and adventuring so much fun is the journey you take for it, not the start or destination in between.” He truthfully stated, which in turn just made me smile at the idea that he might actually start to understand what makes exploration so great in the first place.

Good to know that Victini could possibly be getting back into the groove of things. Maybe this new adventure is just what he needs to rekindle the joy that made him go into adventures with Pericles in the first place. Granted, it would certainly be a lot better if Pericles himself was here with us as well, but one out of two is better than none. Plus, being the so-called Silver Rose does force on him a lot of extra responsibilities that he normally wouldn’t have otherwise. He has an island chain to govern after all, or at least that is the impression I get from his position. I obviously have never seen him, quote-unquote, work, besides the few times I did see him outside the Isle.

Either way, it is still very much good to know that Victini here still possesses a portion of his adventurous spirit inside. This would certainly make things a lot easier as time goes on.

“Well, in that case, we should better be off now. This forest is nice and all but I, of course, came here to see more than just overgrown trees and spike-covered vines. Of to the mountains then. Let’s go, team!” Ampharos happily announced.

“Sir, yes Sir!” We all shouted together, sharing the same level of enthusiasm as the chief.

“Wait…” Nava suddenly began. “I forgot to mention this, but this area is pretty densely overgrown and covered in thick trees and lots and lots of thorn-covered vines. We will have to get past those first if we ever want to get out of here together,” He pointed out, which was also kind of right now that I began to look around again myself.

This place really is overgrown at a completely ridiculous level. Never even knew that nature can be so damn wild. This place certainly puts some of the densest jungles I ever visited to shame.

“Well…” The chief began while tapping his chin. ”Does any of you know Razor leaf, Karate chop or Brick break?” He asked before humming to himself.

“Chief, you’re the one who actually knows Brick break,” Jirachi quickly pointed out.

“Oh?” Ampharos responded before rubbing his neck. “I guess I do, silly me,” He responded sheepishly which made Jirachi shake his head.

Then all of the sudden, the chief swiftly did his famous pose. “Then I guess it is up to me to “Brick break” us out of here and get ourselves to the eastern mountains to…”

“Western.” Jirachi quickly corrected with a neutral tone.

“Well, yes… western. I was going to say western.” The chief tried to correct himself.

“No, you weren’t. Even when standing in another world, your sense of direction is just terrible. Actually.. .on second thought, this isn’t really that surprising at all. Rather be expected, to be honest,” Jirachi stated while crossing his arms.

“You know… you don’t have to be so blunt about it,” The chief replied sadly, before quickly regaining his composure as if nothing has happened. “Well, anyway, guess it’s time to get to work then. I have a lot of chopping to do!” Ampharos declared before moving up to the closest tree and using “Brick break” on its trunk to cut it clean off of its base with one hit.

I looked up at Jirachi questionably which he noticed. “Don’t worry, I and the chief actually brought a lot of Max Elixirs with us. So the chief can very easily keep up with this for a looooong time.” He assured us before going back to casually watching the chief to do his tree-chopping job.

Hope he also remembers to break through these thick vines as well. This requires more than just tree chopping to get us through.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Pericles, Pericles, could you please hurry? Lively town is just over this hill. The fastest we can get there, the faster we could get more of those carrots for you. Plus, it would also mean I can finally get my stupid chest open up again. Can’t believe I lost its key while simply tidying up my room! Most of my notes are in it.” Rosette called out from way ahead, while also muttering something about some locker and key or whatever.

Personally, I couldn’t care less, if it meant to finally reach the town and have a nice cup of tea and a carrot to chew on. I just really hate having to march on for so long just so that I can get myself to the closest town, not to mention getting Rosette’s stupid chest open so that we can get our hands on those very old reports. Maybe Victini should have parked the Isle just a little bit closer to these towns or settlements so that I won’t have to walk so much while carrying an oversized chest on my back.

Say what you want, but having been slouching around the Isle for so long has certainly made me very complacent. I am now a true couch potato, not an adventurer.

“Can you please slow down, Rosette, I don’t really feel particularly energetic anymore now that I am currently assistant-less. It’s so hard to do so many things yourself these days without having anyone around to help you.” I heaved, pulling my sorry plant feet along the dirt covered road. Did I ever mention the chest was heavy?

I really need something to chew right now. Like… maybe a carrot, for example, to exercise something else besides my lower body and my back.

I could hear Rosette sigh as I finally managed to drag myself up on top the hill where the Lively town was just a stone throw away from where we stood. No, really, give me a rock and I will chuck it so hard that it will fly all the way to town and most likely hit someone as a result. Which is why I won’t do it, even if I could. Because I am hungry as all heck right now.

Victini always has been such a boost of energy for me… usually, because he was always carrying snacks with him inside his “void storage”. Rosette, on the other hand, didn’t even bother to carry a simple pouch, just this stupid rather heavy box which I am forced to carry. Because apparently being the MALE meant carrying stuff for the woman. Even when I am the Rose Island’s top Rose. Why? I don’t know.

“Come on. The town is just down the hill,” She stated before taking the lead once again… actually since the start.

“Yeah, thanks, Miss Obvious, for stating the obvious. I have eyes too, you know,” I retorted before slowly following her with the chest on my back.

Rosette huffed. “Well, that comment would be fine, if you would even bother to open your eyes in the first place instead of keeping them closed this entire time, and pretty much bumping into almost everything as a result. If you would, then this trip would have certainly been a lot faster than it has been,” She commented back.

“Well, I am tired, that’s all, and I am trying to get some sleepwalking done so that I won’t risk completely collapsing on myself. Like how it almost happened,” I called back.

“Well, that is because you almost tripped and fell from a small pebble you stepped on. Again, something which could have been avoided if you would have opened your eyes,” She called back yet again.

I sighed. “Fine, I’ll open my eyes then, just so I can stare at a dirt road for the rest of the trip. Milady’s wishes are my commands, after all!” I retorted back sarcastically before finally opening my eyes for the first time since this journey started.

And wouldn’t you know it, I was right. All I was able to see was the downward moving image of the dirt covered road. That, and my feet, though then again my feet aren’t particularly large, to begin with, alongside with the rest of the Budews, Roselias, and Roserades species.

Basically all of us. But that reality is already long given.

“Alright, here we are,” Rosette suddenly stated as the dirt finally transformed to cobblestone as I continued to drag myself on. Obviously letting me know that we have finally reached civilization yet again, or rather the type of civilization these outside Pokémon like to call.

For me, these towns are more like villages. But whatever, I am not here to criticize the size of a settlement, but rather to shop and buy what this settlement has to offer and get this stupid chest opened by a Pokémon that is literally made of keys.

Already forgot the name of the little fella, but then again, I couldn’t care less either.

Because I am cranky and tired right now for the reasons I have just listed above.

Well, besides the visual cues there were also the audible ones. As the usual chit-chat and commotion of a communal area were pretty much everywhere at this point. Pokémon talking about random stuff to each other or simply shouting along to get noticed. I even saw some very distinctly shaped shadows and tails passing by my limited vision as I trudged along, breaking up the boring monotony of seeing nothing but paved road or clutter of garbage.

“Alright, here is Klefki’s shop. He should be able to help us get this chest open again,” Rosette eventually stated before stopping.

I sighed, dropping the large chest down with a very loud thud. “Thank the heavens we are here! I was starting to get back cramps from all this carrying,” I complained before arching my back and letting the soreness subside from my form with the help of some good old photosynthesis.

Being the living rose that I am meant that I really don’t have a normal skeleton to make popping or cracking noises like most Pokémon. Well, I kinda do, but… it’s not the same as bone or whatever.

Either way, once the need to sap energy from the sun was done, I began to push the chest closer to the shop owner who was currently engaged in a conversation with my dear old Rosette over there.

Don’t let her looks and middle evolution fool you, though. She actually is a lot older than me and Victini.

She always has been seen as a… ”mother figure” by the Rose Isle’s inhabitants. But whatever, I am here to get some grub and not to tell some OLD stories.

“Sure thing… I can get this lock open in a jiffy. Though, judging by your description… and to what I already see for myself, this lock is going to take a bit of experimenting to get it open. So why not go ahead and shop a bit around the market while I work in deciphering the locks patterns?” Klefki eventually stated with a kind smile.

Rosetted nodded. “Well, sure thing then. That’s what we were planning on doing here, anyway,” She answered before turning to me. “Come on then, Pericles, let’s go visit the fruits and vegetable vendors so that we can get you what you need,” She stated before leading the way.

I huffed. “Finally, I could very much use something to bite now. And maybe something to drink too now that I think about it,” I responded before shielding myself with my arms.

Summer’s the bane of my existence. Funny for me to say, as a living plant.

Both me and Rosette eventually got to the center of this bustling central plaza that is the town Market. With many Pokémon buying and selling things in front of the vendor stalls, while also holding a casual conversation with one another. There was even a large group at the center who was having some form of a dancing or singing lessons with one another. Oh, and there was also a two-headed ostrich running around town which name I already forgot. Overall pretty standard, though with a lot less green and a lot more diverse in colors.

See what spending so much time at the Isles can do to you? I can’t think of anything else but green now. Lots and lots of green… and white, thanks to the Citadel’s architecture.

But either way I need something to drink, and a carrot, and maybe even a new assistant to help me cut those carrots. Oh, I am really somewhat of a lazy mess now that Victini has skedaddled to another world. I don’t even have the incentive to wake up on time.

“Uhm, excuse me...” Rosette stated as we stopped in front a very recognizable vendor.

“Ah, Rosette. I would guess the usual?” Ivysaur greeted happily after she spotted me and Rosette.

Rosette nodded. “Well, yes, as always, if you will. We would like to buy all of your carrots or at least a large portion of the stock you have,” She announced with a smile which Ivysaur mimicked.

“Ah, yes, of course. I had a feeling you would say that, and you are in luck as I have just received a fresh shipment of these yesterday from the Grass Continent.“ She pointed a vine at a set of large boxes behind her. ”Not many customers have displayed interest in them yet, which means that all of these are yours if you want to buy them,” Ivy stated, before opening one of the boxes behind her with her vines.

“Here, see for yourself, still fresh!” She announced before pulling one out and presenting it to us. I, of course, quickly intercepted it with my own before chewing on it almost immediately.

Rosette simply shook her head before she gave me a good second look.

“Uhm… Pericles, are you…” Rosette tried to say as she evaluated me with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded slowly. “Am I what?” I tried to say, before almost falling asleep in the middle of my snacking.

Rosette again just shook her head. “I guess we really do need to get a new assistant for you after all. You seem even more tired than you usually do. You obviously lack the drive to do anything without someone helping you out,” She sighed before looking back at the stall owner.

“How much for all of them?” I heard her ask while I was spacing in and out.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know. I think the set price we discussed the first time around would be the best one to go with, I guess. Though, that would mean you wouldn’t able to buy all of the stock I have at the moment,” Ivysaur answered, tapping her chin.

I heard Rosette hum. ”Well, I guess that’s fine. I would like to buy the same amount as we did the last time just to avoid any complication and confusion. Plus, it would make it a lot easier for me and him to transport them back home, too,” I heard her decision, even though I was seriously on the verge of falling asleep while standing.

Not the first time it happened, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

Not sure what happened afterward, but I guess I must have genuinely fallen asleep for some time before Rosette suddenly began to slap me in the face which woke me up again. I even almost lost the carrot which was still in my mouth before instinctively biting down to prevent it from happening.

I blinked a couple of times to get the blurriness out of my eyes before seeing both a neutral looking Rosette and a somewhat worried looking Ivysaur gazing at me.

Rosette again sighed, which is pretty much the norm for me ever since I took the mantle of the Silver Rose of the Rose Isles. I would say that it has something to do with my erratic behaviors and antics. But then again I can’t really tell as I don’t have a mirror to look at myself now to reflect on those ideas.

Sometimes, I can even confuse myself.

“I think we really need to get a new assistant for you. Someone who keeps you moving day after day and won’t allow you to sleep in and then just wake up tired and unfocused later for the rest of the day. I know that this is going to be a long-term problem because… it has happened before, you have gotten a bit too complacent for your own good, Pericles. I would have personally loved to send you along with Victini to get things rolling again with the two of you, but your presence at the Isles is obviously just as important. To keep both the fauna and flora on the Isle healthy, colorful, and alive. So you obviously can’t be absent from it for too long,” Rosette stated as if I wouldn’t be capable of knowing that myself.

But then again, nobody around me does know. Which could be the reason why she stated it in the first place. Or am I just thinking it through a bit too, which then tends to lead to something crazy or drastic, or even both if I am left to my own devices, which is almost never because Rosette pretty much knows all of my cons and quirks at this point?

I was about to reply when Rosette suddenly jumped up onto a nearby crate and started to shout. “Everyone, who of you among this town wishes to get the opportunity of a lifetime by getting the chance of working and living in a brand new place? Who of you is interested?” Rosette cried, which pretty much got the entire market to stop, stall and more or less turn towards her. Pretty much giving Rosette their full attention.

The crowd of onlooking Pokémon was quite a first before one Pokémon that wasn’t part of the outside group suddenly came bolting out of Kangaskhan's café to join the aforementioned outsiders.

“I do, I do! I am thrilled for the possibility of a job!” This newcomer screamed enthusiastically into the air before pushing herself through the crowd to stand in front of me and Rosette.

I raised a curious but still sleepy eyebrow at this newcomer while I was absentmindedly chewing on my veggie.

It was a white quadruped cat or dog thing with bowties on both her neck and left ear which had ribbons extending outward from them which seemed to be able to move on their own just like limbs do. Her actual limbs, or should I say legs were all ending in pink colored paws, and her eyes were sparkling blue, with almost no visible irises to speak of.

Though what was most interesting was some of the stares she was receiving from certain Pokémon around here. Stares filled with dreamy eyes or even flirty ones.

Not sure why.

“Pick me, pick me! I have been trying to look for a job in this town for ages, but most people around here just keep staring at me funny or are unable to say anything while I stand in front of them.” The young-sounding lady stated, smiling at both me and Rosette respectively as those… bowties of hers kept moving on their own.

Rosette noticed this as she suddenly had a spark in her eyes. “Well, if that is the case then you are perfect. A Sylveon like you is just what I was hoping for.” Rosette announced which made the smile on the now named Sylveon even larger.

Not to mention the sparkle in her eyes increased as well.

She gasped. “You really mean it?” She responded out of surprise and happiness.

Rosette nodded. “Indeed, and if you really want this job, then you can start by helping us bring this shipment of imported carrots back to the Rose Isles where you will be living on from now on,” She responded which just made pussycat/dog thing even happier.

Well, in fact, now that I think about it more, she is one of those new fancy Eeveelutions which I have heard about before.

Makes me wonder what you got to do to get this final from though? But alas, it’s none of my concern either. I just want to get back at this point.

“Hurray, I have finally managed to get a job and a possible new home to boot as well on a new foreign land! This is the best!” She happily stated, jumping around in joy and even wagging that tail of hers a bit.

Interestingly, some of the Pokémon within the crowd actually sported some very sad or disappointed looks after hearing the news. Not sure why, but then again couldn’t care much either, besides the very thought that suddenly entered me.

“Uhm… Rosette, don’t I get a say in this matt…”

“Nope, you don’t, because this decision was already made and decided. Plus…” She gestured towards the happy Sylveon. ”Do you really want to disappoint such a happy looking girl?” She questioned.

“Uh… no?” I answered.

Rosette smiled. “Well, then it’s settled, she is going to be your new assistant.” She declared before hopping off the box.

“Sylveon, if you will?” Rosette casually stated which forced her to stop her celebrations.

She nodded. “Oh, yes, of course. The first day of the job is the most important one, after all. Impressions, impressions, impressions.” She responded before moving those ribbon thingies of hers under and around some of the boxes and lifting them up almost effortlessly before following Rosette.

My eyes widened at that bit at first, before I quickly regained my own senses and picked up the last two boxes in front of the stall.

I began to think. ”Hmm, four extra limbs, and the strength to go along them as well? I think I like her already,” I thought to myself as I followed the two ladies back out of town.

“Terra, by the way,” The new employee suddenly announced which made both me and Rosette look at her.

“What?” Rosette asked.

“Terra is my name. I personally picked it, just to differentiate myself from other Sylveons out there. But of course, you can still call me Sylveon if you want,” She explained.

Rosette nodded. “Good to know, I would say. Because back at your new home, a lot of Pokémon run around with their own personal names as well for the same reason.” She stated with a bit of a pause before looking back at Terra. “As for why? Well, you will find out soon enough once we get there.” She smiled before gesturing to herself. “By the way, my name is Rosette, your boss, and this here is Pericles…” She gestured to me. ”…your even bigger boss and the one you are tasked to assist and follow around almost every day. Because All-maker high above knows that someone needs to.” She added before continuing on. “I will give you more details on your job once we get back to the Isles though. Just focus on keeping these boxes off the ground and stay close to us. Sometimes, bad and wild Pokémon like to linger around these very open roads and do some very, very nasty things to other Pokémon who are not perfectly prepared or inclined to deal with them on the spot.” She also stated before finally focusing back on the road ahead. Or rather the bridge which led in and out of the town.

Sylveon, or should I say, Terra, just smiled. “That’s fine, it’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” She casually stated which again made me think.

“Strong, and a natural knack for fighting, too? Yup, definitely like her already,” I thought to myself before pulling out yet another carrot from one of the boxes and nagging on it as well.

Well, at least I will have something to chew on along the way. That should keep me both energized and motivated to be energized.

Actually, speaking about getting energized. This carrot I am chewing on is actually helping me I remind myself of something that shouldn’t normally be my job to remind in the first place, but hers. Especially given that this is HER box or rather a chest we are talking about.

“Rosette, hey, Rosette!” I called out up in front of me to get the young but ancient-looking Roselia’s attention.

Which I got, as she curiously aimed her eyes over her left shoulder to look at me.

“Yes, what is it?” She asked.

I frowned. “What about the chest we left at Klefki’s shop?” I casually asked which forced her to stop, followed by me and Terra respectively.

“Oh, dear heaven above, I forgot!” She exclaimed in shock before dashing back towards the direction of the town, leaving a dust trail behind her.

Leaving me and Terra standing alone in the middle of the road as well.

I guess age is finally catching up with her.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Alright… last one… and… we are going to be finally out… of this forest.” Ampharos huffed and gasped as he made preparation for one final chop at the last piece of a vine which separated us and the outside world beyond it.

He extended his arm over his head, and with one last mighty chop, separated the last barrier between us and freedom. But at the cost of the chief immediately doing a belly flop onto grass once we were out.

“Oh, dear heaven above!” Ampharos moaned into the grass while the rest of us were busy looking around.

I was immediately confused. “Wait a minute, where are the mountains? All I see are grassy hills and a few lonely trees here and there.” I stated, looking around and scratching my head questionably. That is until I spotted the mountains behind us once I fully turned around.

I was even more confused than.

“What the… how the… I thought we were heading towards the mountains to the west? Why the heck are they on the other side then?” I asked out loud while scratching my head.

That is when a sudden fit of laughter pierced the very day air around us which only fuelled my confusion even further. So much so that I was actually getting a headache out of this as I watched Jirachi lose himself up on top the exhausted chief.

At least I am not the only one confused by this, as we all were looked up at Jirachi with questioning eyes. Even the chief to some extent.

“Jirachi, why are you…” The chief tried to say before Jirachi beat him to it.

“Chief, I know that you sense of direction is terrible, but this… this is just hilarious at this point!” He stated before laughing once more.

The entire team was just speechless at this point. Especially the chief who at some point decided to look over his shoulders before the realization hit him.

“Oh, no… I… I really did…” He stuttered in shock.

Jirachi nodded while still chuckling. “Well, yeah… you… kinda did, chief… yet again. A pretty similar situation to the one back at the Far Sand Ruins on the Sand continent.” Jirachi stated, inflicting a few personal flashbacks of that particular team expedition we had a couple of months back.

It almost made me facepalm in just how similar this situation really was compared to the one we had before now that I remember it. The chief actually managed to lead us on a wild goose chase, as he literally “brick breaked” our team in a circle around the outside caves system which surrounded the actual ruins in the middle.

Oh, the distress the poor chief felt at the time when Dedenne eventually pointed out that we had passed by these very similar looking stalagmites before. But as usual for the chief, he was eventually back to his full enthusiasm after a few more tunnels further into the cave.

Especially when our team finally reached the aforementioned ruins, where the real reason for our group expedition could finally take its hold. I won’t bother you with the details but let’s just say it involved some really bad Pokémon trying to abuse some very old Pokémon tech for their own selfish gains.

Guess who won that one.

Either way, the chief eventually picked himself up before looking back at the distant mountains on the other side of the first before sighing.

I will admit, I do sometimes really feel sorry for the chief. For how strong, headstrong, smart, and engaging he is in almost everything, and just how great of a leader he can be overall, his sense of general direction is by far his biggest flaw. A very large flaw to have when you are the leader of an organization that specifically specializes itself in exploration and archeological work.

Well, the latter doesn’t really require that much direction seeking, but the former very much does. For, like, ninety percent of the time.

“Jirachi, you knew that I was leading us in the completely opposite direction, didn’t you?” The chief accused, crossing his arms and glaring up at Jirachi who was just smiling as innocent as ever.

“Yup, pretty much,” He responded.

“Then why didn’t you inform us that we were? Instead of just allowing me to just repeat the same mistake I made at the Far Sand Ruins?” The chief curiously asked.

Jirachi just shrugged. “I don’t know. Just… wanted to see how far you would go before eventually realizing this yourself. Plus…” He began to smile again. “It was kind of funny too,”

We all pretty much sighed at this point.

“You know, unlike the rest of the team you can be really cruel sometimes when you want to be.” Ampharos sighed.

“Hey, uh… is this pretty normal for him?” Victini whispered to me.

I exhaled. “Yes, yes, it is. Kinda sad sometimes, but that is just the chief for you. He may be strong, and a very great leader, too. But his biggest flaw has always been his sense of direction, which is why the guild rarely allows him to take the front lead in an expedition for that very reason. It’s usually us or someone else from the guild,” I answered with a sigh before simply watching these two argue with one another.

Victini just nodded, before doing the same and just watching these two go back and forth about this very problem. It’s nothing too serious, thankfully, just a friendly bickering about pointing out both characters’ flaws.

I will admit that Jirachi can be just a little bit too harsh towards the chief when it comes to his specific problem. But then again, everyone at the guild just loves to point out the chief’s terrible his sense of direction for a friendly tease whenever they get the chance to do so.

But I guess it is just fine overall. I mean, the chief is a pretty chill and even very goofy as well. Which makes his sense of leadership and fighting prowess when push comes to shove even more impressive.

I heard Victini eventually sigh. “Oh, for the love of… can we please just get a move on already? I mean, it would have been kinda fine if the two of you would have started arguing back at the cover of the forest. But here, we are kinda exposed to anyone or anything with eyes and ears. I would suggest that we just use the hills behind us to chart our current position and then simply go on from there afterward.” He announced which surprisingly fell on deaf ears as the two were still engaged in their own little discussion.

He sighed again. “You know what, fine… I will just go on ahead then and see what may be waiting for us on the other side of the hill. I mean, someone has to do it,” Victini quickly added floating himself up the hill.

“Hey, wait for us!” I shouted, before quickly running after him, with Nava following suit.

The hill itself wasn’t that steep to my slight surprise, despite how large it actually was. In fact, it was almost like a small green covered mountain if I had to place a label on it. A small grass-covered mount with many open patches of dirt and a few small trees sprinkled here and there.

Because of its height, it did surprisingly take a little while to reach its highest point. Which Victini was first to reach as he obviously didn’t have to exert himself as much as we had too to get up there in scaling it up its slope. Being able to fly and whatnot. Though once he did, he immediately stopped and was gawking at something off in the distance.

Once I and Nava reached the summit as well we could finally see for ourselves what was making him gawk into the distance in the first place.

I was surprised, to say the least. “Is that a… a village over there?” I asked as the wind was a lot more noticeable up here, gently blowing around us, forcing the leaves on my shoulder to follow its flow and the same for Nava’s cloud-like fluff on his neck as well.

Victini nodded. “Yeah, and surrounded by what looks like farmland as well. Though very primitive looking and poorly maintained farmlands, if I had to say.” He answered before rubbing his chin.

Not sure what he was criticizing about, but I do remember seeing a lot of very healthy and very beautifully maintained fruit and berry orchards back at the Isles when passing through some of them in order to reach the Citadel at the center. Not that surprising though when I think about, given that the Isles are inhabited primarily by Grass type Pokémonwho which are known to be much more in tune with nature compared to Pokémon of different types.

Just their basic gardens alone looked super impressive in on itself, with all the different species of flowers and colors they boast. All superbly healthy and alive, of course.

“Well, this certainly changing everything,” Nava suddenly commented to my left while scratching his head.

Overall I couldn’t agree more, but one very obvious question still stood.

“Wait, if there are villages here than that obviously means that there are intelligent creatures living in this world too. Like… Like us… for example” I paused before scratching my own head next. ”Could it be possible for those living down there to be Pokémon as well? I mean, the only two intelligent species we know of so far are either humans or Pokémon. Could this really be a possibility?” I asked while looking at the scene in front of me with great uncertainty.

Victini shook his head. “Doubt it. Again, you need to remember that I have visited many worlds in the past with their own sets of unique creatures, and sometimes even fauna to go along. If different creatures exist in different worlds then making the assumption that different intelligent creatures might also exist in some would not be such a far-fetched theory, to begin with. And again…” He pointed at the village. ”If they are Pokémon, then those fields would most certainly look a bit more cultivated and… healthier than they do now. Grass type Pokémon are natural farmers, thanks to their obviously closer connection to nature.” He explained before just crossing his arms and looking off into the distance, specifically what lay beyond the village itself, which was yet again another mountain range.

I gazed up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Well, okay, but how are you even able to see that much detail from this far away? I can hardly even see the fields as they are without you having pointed them out.” I asked, again being curious about his abilities.

He just smiled. “Simple, I just have much better eyesight than you.” He casually stated, giving me a big grin.

I just frowned. “Yeah, thanks for the obvious statement,” I responded, which made him grin even more.

“Also…” He suddenly continued. “I can amplify my eyesight just by channeling a little bit of my psychic power into them. A little trick I managed to learn when I was trying to peer into the distance of whatever world the Isles have warped us to in the past. Because for me leaving the Isle in the past for most of the time was usually a big no in most circumstances as I am obviously the dedicated keeper of the Void water and its dimensional traveling properties. I had to stay on the Isles for most of the time to not break my psychic connection with it. So that I can keep my position as its new keeper,” Victini added before turning around to look back down on the side of the hill where we just came from.

“Oh, hey, looks like both Ampharos and Jirachi are finally joining us up here as well. About time.” He stated, which forced both me and Nava to look over our shoulders to see the aforementioned pair joining us.

“Sorry for taking so long. We were a bit busy back there,” Jirachi said as he came up.

“Sure…” Victini casually answered before looking back at the main attraction.

Both Jirachi and the chief saw it too and were just as surprised as we were.

“A settlement, huh? Now that is certainly something I didn’t expect to come across so soon,” Ampharos commented as he stood next to Nava and me.

“Yeah, and not to mention a farming community as well by the looks of it,” Jirachi added.

We stayed pretty silent afterward, content to just quietly stare off into the distance and just overall enjoy the serenity of this hill, with the wind’s gently blow around us.

Ampharos was the first to break the silence though as he clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Well, either way, I would say that we should have a look down at them…” Ampharos was about to say before Victini suddenly silenced him by waving his hand at a “silence” gesture.

“Hold on,” He began while looking and sounding pretty serious. ”Something is here. Watching us, in fact,” He quickly added before curiously looking upwards.

We all followed his gaze, only to see a rather lonely looking cloud just lazily hanging around right above us. At first, it didn’t look particularly out of place as it was just a cloud. Though that quickly changed when something, to our surprise, suddenly came zipping out of the cloud and was making a direct bee-line for the curious looking village off in the distance.

We were all pretty stumped at this first, as expected.

“What the heck was that?” I asked out loud.

“Beats me,” Jirachi answered, looking equally confused by this.

“Whatever it was, it was decently fast, though,” Nava added while scratching his head.

Victini shrugged. “Well, whatever it was, it is obviously gone now. Most likely informing the villagers down there about our presence,” Vic stated.

“Should we then still go down there?” I asked while still keeping my eyes glued to the village below.

“I think we should,” Ampharos suddenly perked in which garnered everyone’s attention.

I looked up at the chief questionably. ”Are you sure, chief? I mean, they could be hostile,” I asked with a bit of worry.

“Well…” Ampharos began. ”They already know that we are here, do they not? So why just continue to avoid the inevitable when we could just show ourselves to the natives of this world before any misconception and misunderstanding could arise between us? Better to stop the flames before they turned into a roaring fire, after all,” Ampharos stated which in turn just made me think back again at the forest fire we almost caused last night. Something that just made me cringe internally.

“Well, it is better than nothing, I guess,” Victini eventually stated before floating down the hill without warning.

“Hey, wait for us!” I called out for the second time this day as I just got the compulsion to follow Victini to keep him out of trouble. If I was even capable of doing so that is?

“Well, nothing better than the present, I guess,” I heard Nava say to me as he most likely started to follow.

“Well, there they go. Off into the unknown without a plan. As usual,” I also heard Ampharos say before most likely following us too, alongside with Jirachi.

Well, here it goes it seems. Just a day in and we are already on the brink of establishing contact with the natives of this world.

Then again, as Ampharos stated. Why try to continuously avoid the inevitable when we can just fix it now? Better to make amends now before any misconception and miscommunication could be made. Would certainly ease up our exploration efforts in the long run.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Monsters! I have seen monsters coming out of the forest!” Someone could be heard shouting outside which practically almost everyone in the village heard. Minus the ones currently occupied in the fields, of course.

Clover was one of them to hear it though as she curiously exited her room to see what the commotion was about. Her brother Swift would normally be by her side, but he was currently at the village school to learn things.

Clover wished she could attend too, but only male unicorns were accepted as mages in many parts of the world while female ones were more generalized as healers or magical tenders. Unless you are of the noble descent.

The entire village was in somewhat of a standstill as a frantic looking pegasus landed down into the village square. He looked beaten, breathing heavily as if he had flown for his life or something. Which he might, judging by what he shouted before.

“What is wrong? What the heck is going on here and why are you shouting?” One of the curious village folks asked as he came up towards the panting pegasus stallion.

Judging by his attire he seemed to be a messenger of some sorts, which wasn’t exactly rare for a pegasus to be as both gryphons and pegasi are known to be either working as messengers or delivery ponies if they are not enlisted in the extensive military programs of their respected races.

Many like to see them as warmongers, but personally, they like to simply call their over excessive military focus as “national security.” Not a bad move, given just how territorial all the other kingdoms are.

Either way, the rest of the village folk was at this point out and about to personally see what the commotion was as the pegasus was still trying to catch his breath.

But after he was done, all it really needed was one sentence to come out of the pegasus mouth to answer everyone’s question in an instant.

“Monsters… I have seen monsters coming out of the foreboding forest, and they are coming this way as we speak!” Was all he needed to say for things to get moving around here.

Chapter 5: Well hello there

View Online

Chapter 5: Well hello there.

Edited by: The Great Khan

“Hey, slow down Victini. We obviously can’t run as fast as you can fly.” I shouted in between pants as me, Nava, and even Ampharos where trying to catch up with him while running down a hill.

“I don’t know what the problem is. This is pretty easy.” Jirachi chimed in as he suddenly came flying past us.

“Well yeah, because you can just fly yourself. You two have it pretty easy in that department.” I call back after Jirachi as he easily passed us.

This is certainly one of the few times where I do kinda of miss being a Mew myself. But hey, the past is the past and the future is now. Or at least, that is what Xatu likes to constantly preach. Basically, saying don’t look back and simply keep your gaze fixed in front of you all times.

True to most circumstances, but sometimes looking back can be really helpful. Like right now for example, seeing just how close Ampharos was on my tail; Motivating me to keep up the pace, or risk getting flatten by his large mass. I’m not really calling Ampharos fat or anything, but that large running body does hold some significant force behind its weight when impacting with something.

I should know, thanks to two past incidences and the one I had recently.

One thing was for sure. “Gotta keep running or risk another devastating body slam from the chief.” I thought to myself as I increased my pace just a little bit. Easy to do when gravity is helping you out somewhat.

Nava next to me was actually doing a bit better than me in comparison. His longer and more powerful legs where making hopping down a hill with wide long hops quite simply looking. It also showed in his expression. He had a lot less sweat running down his face then me.

Those stubby little legs of mine do have their limits after all.

“For the love of… can you two please slow down? I’m also carrying most of our stuff and supplies in my bag, in case some of you have forgotten that.” I complained openly in between huffs.

Thankfully though, the bottom of the hill quickly came into view, which in turn made both Jirachi and Victini halt at its base and wait for us. We were, of course, second to reach the flat grounds ourselves, through a lot more exhausted than these two psychic flyers. I halted, before dragging my leafy tail towards the closest tree I could find and supporting myself on its trunk and taking a breather.

Nava was doing the same but was a lot quicker back on his feet then me obviously.

Ampharos on the other hand, decided to flop himself right onto the grassy ground for a second time to rest his entire form. He just did a “brick breaking” marathon back in the forest, so the fact that he was extremely tired and out of breath was understandable.

Also, he does kinda suffers from the same problem as me; having stubby looking legs in comparable to his body size.

But hey, we can’t all be born runners, now can we?

“Well, the village is just a couple of paces from here if I am not mistaking. It’s actually a pretty good thing that there is a lot of trees and large foliage in between us and the settlement. Which makes approaching it safely from here quite simple.” Victini announced while looking off into the direction where I think the village might be.

Don’t care about that right now. Need to get some air and rest my legs a little bit first before thinking about villages. Running down a hill at full speed is never such a good idea, so why we did it is beyond me.

After I was done though, I picked myself back up before looking into my bag to make sure that nothing got lost on the way here. I was relieved to see that nothing got lost or scrabbled too much, before focusing back at the gang.

“So, we are just going to waltz right in and say hi, or am I missing something here?” I asked while tilting my head a bit.

“Well not really.” Victini responded. “First, we are obviously going to get close enough to first scout the area out and to see who or what the inhabitants of this village really are before doing anything rash or reckless. Again, we aren’t particularly sure who they are or what they are. No need to jump over a cliff when there is a nice-looking bridge to cross with, after all.” Victini explained while raising a finger.

I just hummed in thought. “Well, how about me and Nava go in first to scout out the area to find out if all of the natives are friendly or not? Both I and Nava here are the smallest after all, not to mention grounded too.” I suggested, more or less for getting the chance of again being the first of seeing something else that isn’t human or Pokémon at all.

This is again a once in a lifetime opportunity. Well for me and Nava at least, Victini over here of course has it a little bit more common from his end, if his stories are to be believed, that is.

Both Jirachi and Victini looked thoughtful at first before the chief himself suddenly decided to butt in after he pushed himself back up.

“Well, I think we should let them go.” Ampharos announced which caused both Mystics to look at him. Well…Victini is a mystic right? I honest don’t know.

“Well…” Jirachi began. “If the chief says it’s going to be ok then I seriously have no objection against it. Plus…” He looked at us.”These are Nava and Glade we are talking about. The two most adventurous duo of Pokémon I have ever seen. Plus, I know that they can easily handle themselves too. I mean…they did defeat the Dark Matter after all.” Jirachi chimed in, which in turn just made me smile as well as give him a thank you gesture.

Victini shrugged. “Alright, I guess I too have nothing against it either. I will admit that I personally don’t know much of this much talked about ‘Dark Matter’ subject which everyone is constantly bringing up. But again, these two do seem not without something, I will give them that.” Victini stated as well before crossing his arms.

I smiled. “Thanks, you guys.” I announced before looking at Nava instead. “Okay! Let’s go then, we’ve got a village to explore.” I announced to which Nava simply nods.

And with that we were off, making our way into the foliage and aiming for the direction of the village.

“You two be careful.” I heard Ampharos call out after us before his voice quickly faded away.

Not sure what we will find on the other side though, but I guess that it must be quite outlandish if my own imagination can be trusted. Like maybe we are going to see a village populated with nothing but being that have a hundred eyes for their…well eyes, with a dozen tentacles for their arms and massive heads for their…well heads of course.

Oh I can’t wait to find out how the natives of this world truly look like, just to be able to either confirm, or un-confirm, my theory about a one hundred-eyed alien. That proof would be cool, but also somewhat terrifying now that I think about it.

Either way, the trip itself through the foliage was refreshingly simple for once. Nothing was too difficult to traverse, too dark to see, or to random to suddenly usher in the summons of a forest fire at the hands of someone else. It was really nice, and maybe a tell-tale sign that luck was finally back to normal.

But knowing how the universe works sometimes, I am obviously not going to say it out loud. Though something else I might.

“Hey, do you really think we are going to see some one hundred-eyed, tentacle-limbed natives today? It would totally be cool if that was the case, like…you know…breaking the common mold of expectation and imagination when it comes to these type of things. This should certainly be interesting.” I randomly asked while pushing myself through a bush.

Nava was perplexed by this. “What…why one hundred eyes? Does such a creature even make sense? To have one hundredth eyes on its head or maybe its whole body? Where…where did this completely random and ridiculous idea suddenly come from?” Nava asked as he jumped over the bush instead of just pushing through.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, as I said, just want to break the traditional mold that everybody might have in terms of imagining a certain type of creature or species. I mean, thinking of a being with two eyes is pretty normal. But thinking of someone that may have a dozen on its body could be a lot more interesting instead. Just imagine the weirdness you would feel when seeing such a creature for the very first time. It might be scary, maybe even disturbing, but definitely quite surprising and unique if that ever was the case. Just imagine.” I lengthily explained, smiling a bit to myself at the prospect of seeing something so super-duper weird on this world.

Nava was just silently and somewhat weirded out by my explanation which was honestly to be expected.

“You have a very strange imagination, Glade. Certainly, something I have never seen or heard before from you. Did you always have it?” Nava curiously asked me as we pressed on further.

I think I can already see some roofs off into the distance behind some trees and bushes. But we will have to press on just to be sure of course.

I smiled. “Just now to be honest.” I casually replied.

“Oh…well ok then. That certainly makes a bit more sense.” Nava responded before we finally reached the outskirts of the woods and our target.

“I think this is it, but we should keep low just in case.” I stated, before creeping myself up towards another bush and peeking my eyes passed its cover.

Nava instinctively did the same from the other side of the bush and kept quiet.

“Alright, I would say that we can see the village perfectly from here and…” I was about to say, before I suddenly spotted something. “Wait a minute, are those…the natives I see?” I muttered more to myself rather than to Nava as I did managed to spot something behind some buildings that seemed to be the residences of this place.

I am certain of that assumption, because I can tell that they seemed to be talking to one another. Plus, some of them where even wearing a few accessories too. Like hats, scarfs and what not. Though most of them where naked.

“I have to say, those are some very interesting looking Pokémon…ugh I mean peoples. I mean, they all kinda look the same in terms of shape and biology, but besides that, they all kinda have completely different, vibrant and diverse colors from one another. Not to mention different tail and hair styles too.” I thought to myself as I continued to observe the scene in front of me.

Yeah…yeah, we definitely found the natives of this world. I am certain.

“Well, not the one hundred-eyed tentacles monster with big heads I was hoping for, but still acceptable at least.” I commented out loud, which in turn made Nava sigh.

“You and your crazy imaginations Glade.” I heard him criticize.

“I agree.” Somebody suddenly said behind me which almost made me jump.

I turned around. “What the…chief…what are you all suddenly doing here?” I asked while gazing at the trio standing behind me.

“Simply…” Victini began. “We just started to get bored. So, we decided to follow the two of you after a couple of minutes had passed.” He answered.

I sighed. “Well anyway, I think we found the natives of this place by the look of it. I mean…” I turned towards the village again.” Just go see for yourself.” I stated before gesturing towards the settlement.

Ampharos nods. “Well yes, indeed you seem to have their Glade, certainly the most colorful bunch of creatures I have ever seen. Are you sure they are all even the same species?” Ampharos eventually asked while peering over the bush as well.

I nod. “I’m sure of it, I mean, their overall body structure and form looks pretty much the same for them all, besides the obvious difference in color and hairstyles.” I answered.

“Not to mention the tails too.” Victini added.

“Well, either it does seem that we managed to find the dominant species that is calling this world home. Or rather, one of them at least.” Ampharos stated before pausing to think. “It could be possible that there might be other intelligent species living on this world as well, similar in how our world is home to many different species of Pokémon too. But we obviously wouldn’t know until we eventually learn more of this place first. Though knowing that there is at least some form of civilization thriving in this world is surely comforting to know. Certainly, it would make exploration a lot easier if we are able to communicate with these species. That is, if these colorful quadruples over there prove themselves friendly to us or not.” He added while rubbing his chin.

“Well…are we going to just show ourselves then?” I asked while looking over my shoulders.

Ampharos scratched his head. “Well…to be honest, I was actually thinking more in…”

“Wait.” Victini suddenly interrupted as he began looking behind himself.

I was of course confused. “Wait…wait for what? What are you…” I was about to ask before a pair of these so-called ‘natives’ suddenly came jumping out from behind a bush to our right with crude looking swords and spears in their mouths, and a gaze of bravery and determination.

Me and Nava were, of course, shocked at this. Even Ampharos was surprised enough to instinctively back-pedal a bit as these two continued to charge us. Both Jirachi and Victini, though, didn’t seemed to be intimidated by this in the slightest. Specifically, Victini who, out of the blue, suddenly extended his right hand towards the two attacker and used his psychic abilities on them, grabbing them mid-charge, halfway before reaching us with a blue aura forming around their forms, and forcing them up into the air as a result.

The two natives were of course surprised by this at first, before a full sense of panic enveloped their expressions. Dropping their crude looking weapons from their mouths, before screaming and struggling like mad.

Jirachi was the next to move forward though, before basically doing the same as Vic. Though instead of his telekinesis on the two visible attacker, he instead pulled out a pair of two more natives with nets from behind a tree right next from the same bush the two attackers suddenly jumped out from.

These two were of course panicking as well and it showed, both in their expression and their flailing motion.

To say that I was both shocked and confused by this would have been an understatement.

“What the…what is going on?” I asked out loud after I managed to regain composure from my initial shock.

“Nothing much, other than the fact that me and Jirachi kinda knew that something was up the moment you two left.” He explained before looking over his shoulder towards us.” This is actually the main reason why we decided to quickly follow you two instead. Me and Jirachi sensed that we were already being watched from afar, so we did what needed to be done and quickly followed you.” He added, before looking back at the terrifying natives suspended in the air.

They were spouting and shouting something in a language I honest can’t understand. But that is obviously not the thing I should be focusing on right now. Rather, I should make sure that nothing drastic is being made before this situation can get out of hand, like their shouts possibly enticing the attention of native villagers nearby and painting us in an even worst picture to them than we already are.

Seeing a bunch of unknown creature causing fright and panic to some of your friends or family members is obviously not a very good first impression when trying to make it clear that we come in peace and cause no harm.

Well…at least me and Nava do.

“Wait, hold on.” I announced to get everyone’s attention, which thankfully worked, maybe even a bit too much as also the natives where gazing down at me from their levitated position.

Strange but…I have other things to focus on. “Don’t…don’t do anything rash ok. These…these peoples were most likely just trying to guard their village from the unknown monsters we possibly are to them. They don’t know who we are and what we are. For them, we might very well be monsters coming from who-knows-where. I mean, just look at them too.” I gestured a hand towards them. “It doesn’t seem like they are able to do anything to us without their weapons, and to top it all off, they look absolutely terrified now.” I added desperately in hopes of avoiding an incident here.

Victini looked thoughtful. “Well…” He began before looking back up at the natives. “Well, they did try to attack us with crude melee weapons. What’s really the worst that could happened from there?” He stated before lowering his pair of prisoners down onto the ground, followed by Jirachi respectively.

The gang of four immediately began to shuffle closer to one another, with the lead one (or at least, he looks like the lead one judging by his…bravery) simply giving us a challenging glare.

I just realized it, the one glaring at us actually looked somewhat different compared to the other three. This one had a beak for its mouth and paws on its hind legs instead of hooves.

Not to mention sporting wings on its back and a much more traditional looking tail, too.

A very strange looking combo but…I have seriously seen stranger things before.

“Well then, what now? Should we just let them go or something?” Nava asked next to me while rubbing his head.

“Normally, yes.” The chief stated. “But that would probably mean going with the risk of them just going around and telling everyone that a pair of four strange looking monsters are terrorizing these lands, which would obviously be bad for us. Something we very much don’t need, for many reasons.” He commented, while again rubbing his chin.

“Well…ok…but how are we going to communicate with them then? They obviously don’t speak our language judging from the verbal shouts and screams they...well…shouted.” I asked before crossing my arms and looking at the four natives questionably.

Jirachi smiled. “Well, simple; Telepathy.” He simply stated with a grin.

“Oh yeah, forgot about that.” I responded with a facepalm.

“Well, time to freak them out even more I guess. I wouldn’t be surprised if they never had a voice inside their head talking to them until today.” Jirachi stated before visibly channeling his psychic powers into his hand before projecting it directly into one of them. Jirachi’s eyes glowing as a sign that he had a mental connection with the chosen native in front of him.

The aforementioned native froze. His eyes darting left and right in both panic and confusion which the rest of his gang notices.

Or, I think it’s a he, judging by his deep shouts from earlier.

“Well, all we have to do now is wait.” Ampharos stated before crossing his arms.

I nod, watching Jirachi silently do his thing while the one receiving his mental messages was looking up at him with both shock and fear. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t worry for the guy. Hope Jirachi is using the right words or sentences to properly explain ourselves to them. Though it does seem to work out well by the looks of it, judging by his slowly increasing calmness. Even going so far as to just look up at Jirachi curiously.

“It does seem to be working.” Victini suddenly stated.

“Yeah, it does.” Nava chimed in.

After that, Jirachi started to relax again as his eyes stopped glowing. He tentatively flew towards the aforementioned native, which in turn caused the other two to flinch back while the winged one jump right in front of his pal in a brave defensive position.

Though thankfully the one Jirachi had spoken to telepathically quickly jumped in and intervened. Explaining something in his foreign language which was still as undecipherable as ever.

Like seriously, I can’t even begin to guess.

Though thankful his intervention did the trick as the one with the beak visibly relaxed before stepping out of the way. Jirachi smiled at him thankfully before fully lowering himself towards the one he just spoke to. Jirachi then started rummaging through his tiny bag before pulling out an item that looked shockingly familiar. My eyes almost popped out of their eye sockets when the realization hit me.

“Wait, is that…?” I asked, being too stumped to finish my question.

“Well…I guess it is.” Nava added, also sounding shocked by this.

Jirachi had literally just pulled a small gold bar out of his pack and was now generously presenting it to the native whose eyes were just as large as ours, alongside his comrades’.

In fact, their jaws were almost touching the floor as Jarichi casually handed the gold bar over to them. Their eyes widened even further for the one actually holding the bar, most likely feeling its heavy weight and knowing that it is the real deal.

Though this made me wonder. “Could the rest of the village over there possibly be poor? I mean, just looking at the size and dirty conditions of some of the houses might not be too far off of an assumption.” I asked while looking back at the village with sad eyes.

“Well could be, but we obviously won’t know until we see it for ourselves. Up close, I mean.” Ampharos added before focusing back at the scene in front of him.

Jirachi was actually once again engaged in a mental conversation with one of the natives. Though this time with the beaked one, which was rather surprising.

After a while he simply gave off a sigh, though it was more of a heavy-hearted one, before getting back up on all fours and brushing himself off.

“Well, it’s good to know that we are finally making some progress here. But…” Victini stalled for a bit. “I am also kinda interested what these weapons are and what they are made off. They looked pretty crude from afar so…I would love to have a closer look at it, out of curiosity really.” He added before flying towards one of the dropped weapons and picking one up.

This alerted one of the natives though, as expected, which forced Jirachi to once again step in and give off a quick response towards the natives before turning his attention back to Victini with a disapproving look.

“Victini, did you have to?” Jirachi chided while crossing his arms.

“Well yeah.” Vic casually replied. “I am just curious, that’s all. Plus, it could also give us some interesting clues on what technological level these natives really are. Could be helpful when engaging with them in the future.” He added before focusing back on the sword and holding it up high for all to see.

I arched an eyebrow. “Wait…doesn’t that look like bronze or something?” I asked while stepping a bit closer to have a better look at the thing myself.

Victini nods. “Yeah, this is bronze. A sword with a bronze blade. This alone might already tell us everything we need to know. But then again, I can’t be sure.” He stated before dropping the blade again before scratching his head.

This made me think. “Bronze huh? Well, not really sure what that proves, since using actual tools or weapons isn’t particularly commonplace back in our world, as certain Pokémon are more or less tools themselves or weapons given their battle experience and moves. Just look at Klefki for example, he is literally a set of keys chained together! He definitely doesn’t need any key for himself as he is basically made of them.” I thought before focusing back at the happening in front of me.

One of the natives seems to be talking about something to Jirachi, while pointing one of its arms…or should I say hooves in the general direction of the village.

I would guess that it may be ok for us to finally show ourselves to this little community. Or so I hope.

Jirachi nods, before turning himself towards us. “Well good news chief, I would say that we have managed to win some level of trust with these natives here. I would say that this interaction is a total success, if I do say so myself!” Jirachi announced with a smile.

“You mean you bribed them.” Victini added with a smirk.

Jirachi just rolled his eyes. “Potato, potato. The point is it worked, which in turn means that we could possibly receive a much more proper shelter for the night and a possible launching point as well for further expeditions from this area. Plus…” Jirachi suddenly adopted a spark in this eye. “I could maybe educate these natives with my ideas of improving their lives with my genius and knowledge. Oh, the possibilities I tell you, and the overall joy to flex my genius brain muscles in front of them. I will then be hailed as a genius from both worlds. Ooh, my ego sometimes knows no bounds and I am not ashamed to openly admit that.” Jirachi excitedly announced, which turn just made us all sigh while the aforementioned natives were just confused.

I would be describing the overall coloration, hairstyle and armor…or rather clothes these equine looking natives wore, but I will just let you all figure it out with the help of your own imagination, guys.

Plus, they are so blatantly colorful all around, it would be hard for me to even remember their individual color compositions anyway, so why bother?

“Well, anyway, time to say ‘hi’ and show these natives what a genius really looks like. Plus, I generally just want to have a closer look at the village anyway. Like how their society functions and how it compares to ours. Oh, so many learning and teaching possibilities!” Jirachi stated, as he followed the natives out of the woods and into the open.

The way he just casually did that was a bit…off-putting to say the least. But hey, this was the plan from the beginning away, so why not start.

“Well, well, well, this should certainly be interesting. I can’t wait to see how these natives live on a day-to-day basis.” Ampharos commented as well, as he too bushed himself passed the foliage and out into the open world.

“Not to mention having a closer look at their farming methods as well, and what their usual crop yield is as a result.” Victini added as well, which in turn only left me and Nava.

“Well, no time but the present then, I assume. Let’s just go out there and introduce ourselves to these villagers too then. Maybe we will be making a few new friends along the way. That would certainly be a bonus.” I stated with a smile and a shrug, which Nava confirmed with a simple nod.

And with that we were off. Time to make contact.

Chapter 6: From local Zero to Hero

View Online

Chapter 6: From local Zero to Hero

Edited by: The Great Khan

“My, my, my, this is certainly something else…well, something else in regards to road condition.” Ampharos stated as he looked down at his feet.

They were both horrible caked in mud and dirt, a lot more than usual in fact, thanks to the aforementioned road conditions.

Both Nava and I had the same problem of course. With both Jirachi and Victini obviously having no problem with it whatsoever, for obvious reasons, while also being too busy with other thing. Like exploring the village from above, for example.

Either way, to say that we attracted quite the crowd would have been an understatement. The entire village was pretty much out and about to stare at us from a distance, and giving us either wondrous, or frightening looks respectively.

But back on topic about the issues we currently have at the moment. Apparently, having hooves basically contributes to the fact that, with a mix of water and the constant use of heavy loaded carts, pretty much meant that the roads where damp and muddy for most of the time. Not even accounting some of the lengthy caravans that pass through here as well, according to what Jirachi managed to get out from one of the first natives that bravely confronted us at the village entrance.

Overall, the roads here were fairly stampeded to a fine paste of mush, and the state of our feet pretty much shows it. Though thankfully by just looking around, I can tell that the rest of the village doesn’t look as bad as the roads do, so my idea that this place might be somewhat poor was thankfully wrong. But they weren’t particularly well off, either, judging by the reaction the guy had who was holding Jirachi’s gift from earlier. It didn’t exactly take very long for that guy to immediately run off to his home with the bar of gold in between his hooves and basically telling everyone about it.

Now according to Jirachi, a lot of these villagers now think of him to be some kind of god that brings either luck or good fortune, thanks to his telepathy, calming nature, and the fact that he gave the guy a whole bar of gold.

Not too far off of an assumption to make though. Given that Jirachi IS the wish making Pokémon, according to legends. Technically, at least. He has personally never practiced that role as far as he could remember himself and has always been more fascinated with the studies of the stars, technology and recently, with Nava’s inclusion, artifacts of human origins.

Because apparently, Nava wasn’t the only human to ever be brought to the pokemon world, again according to some records. But that is a story for another day yet again. Because today, we have an entirely different issue to focus on; the issue of an entire village watching us do practically everything. Even when Ampharos was just scratching his back.

“Well…I always loved getting the attention of others, but this is clearly a bit too ridiculous, even for me.” The chief stated with a bit of shyness after a group of natives behind him gasped when he scratched his back.

Because of that, both me, Nava, and Ampharos were more or less rooted close together in the middle of the village, while the aforementioned duo were free to do whatever while exploring this area from the air.

I do have to agree with Ampharos here; this level of attention is even for me a bit too much. I can’t believe I would ever say that.

“Uh…I guess I’ll have to wash my hands and feet later when all of this is done. I wonder if there is a pond or river near I could make use of. That would certainly be nice.” Nava wondered out loud while lifting up one of his aforementioned hands and sticking his tongue out at just how brown it was.

I shrugged. “I think so. I mean, settlement are usually always build near a water source as far as I know. I am sure they have a natural spring or reservoir nearby. We just have to ask them, or rather have Jirachi ask one of them to be sure.” I responded, which was right on time too as the aforementioned Pokémon suddenly appeared from on top of a roof.

Ampharos was the first to greet him. “Wonderful, you’re back. So…what did you managed to find out?” The chief asked as Jirachi came floating down.

“Well, a lot of things really. For starters, the village doesn’t seem to be that very big. I would guess a population around 100 if I am correct with my assumptions.” He answered while tapping his chin.

I gaped for a moment. “A…A HUNDRED?! But most towns back in our world barely exceed past one hundred themselves. Why is this such a minor thing here?” I asked surprised.

“Well…” Jirachi started. “You two should remember that in the distant past, Pokémon were building and living inside cities or kingdoms themselves, which at the time, held a population easily exceeding above a thousand, or even tenths of thousands in some instances, before the great social collapse of the culture and infrastructure occurred for mysterious reasons. Which is why our world is littered with these ancient relics of the past. Remnants of a long forgotten time, or golden age of Pokémon kind.” He explained, before continuing. “Also, the best cultural and architectural proof of our ancient past is actual the Rose Isles themselves. There, rules, culture and overall tradition still very much stem from the old days. The islanders are in fact the only surviving remnants of a time where massive structures like the Citadel were pretty much common all through the world. Easily proving what previously had only been listed as myths or theories, now made real thanks to the islanders.” He added before taking a breather after his long and breathless explanation.

“Well…that was certainly lengthy and kind of off-topic. Even though I originally started asking if you managed to find something out or not.” The chief responded with a sigh.

“Well sorry then, chief. But, Glade over here had asked me a very important question, so I just had to answer it as best as I could. You know how carried away I can get sometimes.” Jirachi answered while rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

Though he quickly perked up. “Oh yeah, that reminds me,” He announced before pulling out a random note pad from his bag. “Apparently, these natives which we have been calling them this entire time are actually called “Ponies” in their native tongue. While the winged beaked one we saw earlier is actually called a gryphon in this world. Furthermore, I managed to also learn that there are multiple races living on this world besides just these two, with their own kingdoms or nations respectively. Fascinating information if I do say so myself.” Jirachi openly stated while looking down at his notepad.

“Is that so?” Ampharos asked while tilting his head curiously.

Jirachi nodded before stashing away his pad. “Anyway, that’s it so far. Pretty exciting stuff if I have to say.” He stated before floating down next to us. Looking around himself and seeing the crowd which was basically surrounding us, all talking to one another in their foreign language.

“Hmm…I wonder if Mawile could maybe help us with a translation in the future. I am sure that she would be thrilled to give it a try once we ask her.” Ampharos openly wondered, while rubbing his chin in thought.

“Well, either way. I would suggest that we should seek out the village leader or elder of this place and ask him or her if it was ok with them if we could stay here for a while. Nothing beats having a roof over our heads, after all, or a place to stock up on resources if we have too.” Jirachi suggested.

Ampharos nodded. “Well indeed we should. This whole ‘standing around and being watched for almost everything you do’ is nice and all, but it’s also obviously not going to get us anywhere productive-wise. Plus…” Ampharos looked down to his feet. “…It would also mean getting out of this mud covered ground and onto something more…solid and dry.”

Jirachi just smiled. “I have no idea what you are complaining about chief. I think this road looks perfectly normal and walkable!” He announced with a huge grin which in turn just made all three of us frown.

“Well anyway, I think I saw something similar to a town hall somewhere at the northern end of the village. I am sure that someone like a major, elder, or chieftain must be living or working there. Come on, I can lead you three there and we could get ourselves introduced a bit more properly.” Jirachi suggested before taking the lead.

The three of us just followed, marching our way through the mud and internally cringing a bit with every wet squishy step we took. Though thankfully that didn’t last long as we eventually reached dryer grounds and roads further up the settlement.

Again, it doesn’t really take much of a guess that we’re still being followed visually by everyone and everything we passed by. A lot of these natives even out-right stopped whatever they were doing or talking about to stare at us as we casually made our way upwards towards the northern part of the village.

The houses further up this road where increasing in size, too. From basic one story buildings to double floor houses or triple stories for some. In fact, I would guess that this area is where all of the stores or shops of the village were, judging by the signs hanging above their entrances. There were even some very distinct warehouses or silos towering right behind some of these stores and shops. They really just added to the overall vibe that this place is actually more of a farming community than anything else. Same with the overall theme of wooden buildings and basic thatched roof.

Well, actually, the visible wheat fields which were behind the silos themselves contributed much better to this atmosphere then the silos did. That, and the obvious smell of wheat in the air as well.

“Hey, wait, isn’t that a little kid over there?” Nava suddenly pointed out. Which in turn forced every one of us to stop and look at what Nava was gesturing at.

Indeed, it was a little kid, or rather a little pony kid tentatively inching closer towards us from behind a house, before literally just standing right in front of us with curious and wondrous eyes.

Thinking back on it now, I did recall having seen this particular pony within the crowd a couple of times. Because it isn’t really hard to miss someone like it, who was basically just green all throughout when everyone else had basically two different colors on their name. Even her hair was a lighter shade of green compared to the rest of her body.

Either way, we all halted of course, looking down at the little pony with our own curiosity. Well, I say little, even though Nava and I weren’t really that much taller compared to him or her. Maybe just half a head taller if I had to be thoughtful about it.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? A little pony child if I had to guess, judging by its size.” Ampharos stated happily before bending a bit forwards towards it. “How adorable and precious it looks.” He added with a smile.

The child was almost ready to mimic Ampharos’ expression, when a sudden shout to our left changed that.

We all turned our head towards its source, only to find a very distressed looking pony lady (judging by her hair and notable eyelashes) calling out for this child here.

The child seemed to be a bit confused at first, calling something back to her mother while pointing a hoof at Ampharos. She persisted though, and was almost on the verge of making her way over to us before looking back at Ampharos and the rest of our gang. She stalled, before looking over to the child with pleading eyes.

The child's ears dropped, before it made its way over to its mother.

I didn’t take long for the mother to snatch up its child before galloping off behind some houses. We were a bit stumped by this to say the least.

“Well, that was certainly something.” Ampharos stated with a tilted head. “Though I would have loved to converse with the little child just a bit longer. It certainly was quite the adorable little thing, wasn’t it?” Ampharos added with a smile.

“Well, you will have all the chances in the world to do so chief, AFTER we make ourselves look a little bit friendlier around here. Plus…” Jirachi paused for a bit. “…as you can tell, the ponies here still don’t fully trust us. In fact, while I was flying around and about with Victini earlier, I did notice a couple of them either hiding, glaring or even running away from us as we passed by. We truly are completely foreign towards these natives. Which again, is understandable.”

This caused me to perk up though. “Wait, where is Victini anyway if he was with you before?” I asked, tilting my head a bit.

“Well…” Jirachi began, sounding somewhat unsure, which didn’t make me feel so good on the matter. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t start burning anything else down by accident. Just like how he almost did back at the forest.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Well, here you are Victini, sitting on top of a roof, while overlooking an open wheat field with nothing else to do. Same thing I also do when the Roselias and Roserades get ready for yet another harvest for the same year. I guess this is my way of wasting time. Doesn’t really change that much on a different world now does it?” I thought to myself as I lazily gaze off into the distance.

The harvest season must be ongoing for these villagers as well, judging by how many more of these ponies have started to show up at the fields with wagons attached to them. Watching these ponies do their thing does allow me to space out for just a moment to relieve a particular memory which was kinda similar to this one. Though the only difference being that I wasn’t alone. Someone else was sitting here next to me as when we first ever visited the isle’s together.

I sighed. “Can’t believe it really has been THAT long. Time really does fly by when we don’t give it much attention or thought.” I again thought to myself before I supported my head on my arms, casually gazing off into the nearby fields and watching these ponies do what they do.

I personally could give these ponies a few helpful pointers on how they can be a bit more efficient with their wheat growing and harvesting techniques. But the issue still remains that a large majority of them still don’t fully trust me yet, which is of course fully understandable. Plus, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them even if I wanted too. Unlike Jirachi, I actually never learned how to do Telepathy, which is just really strange on my part.

I am capable of psychically manipulating the void orbs’ powers and opening up gates into other dimensions, but I am not capable of some of the rather basic psychic abilities out there?

I really did let myself go over the decades, didn’t I? Same with Pericles. We both have really gotten rather complacent when it compares to the adventures we used to undertake in the distant past on an almost daily basis.

Way, way, way back in the past, in fact. Man, this idea really makes me feel old, but then again age really doesn’t affect me or him that much, or rather everyone else that lives on the Isle, thanks to its displacement in time.

I sighed once more. “Ugh, I really should try and be a little bit more involved than just sitting around here and let my own thoughts keep me rooted. What’s done is done. What I used to have in the past is no longer a luxury for me now. I have a responsibility to take care off now, unlike long ago when I first met Pericles in that forest that unsurprisingly doesn’t exist anymore.” I told myself out loud before prompting myself up from my sitting position. I dusted myself off a bit as an explosion was happening at the corner of my vision and…

“Wait…explosion?” I asked myself as I looked in the direction where I saw the aforementioned disaster take place.

The only problem is, there wasn’t any? Just a wide open field with a lonely building standing at the opposite end of said field. Quite a ways off from the actual village too, which was kinda strange, though obviously not as strange as the vision I had just a moment ago.

I was thoroughly confused. “Huh…what the…then what the heck did I just see out of the corner of my eye just now, when nothing really happened at al…” I was about to say as I was swiftly proven wrong with my own assumption. A large chunk of the distant building suddenly was engulfed in an explosion with the rest quickly catching fire as a result. Pretty much mimicking the vision I just had a few seconds ago.

I was utter shocked to say the least.

“Was that future vision I just had earlier, or am I just slowly losing my mind after all these many decades of being so heavily complacent? I wasn’t even aware that I could learn or harbor such an ability at all. Simply because…this never happened before.” I thought to myself in utter shock, before quickly shaking my head and getting back to the severity of this reality.

I of course wasn’t the only one who noticed this disaster.

It didn’t take long for panic to ensue. I may not be able to understand what the heck these ponies were shouting about, but it didn’t take that much guessing judging by the tone and general expressions of their voices.

I again wasn’t really sure what to do. That is, until I focused my every keen eyes on the burning building a little bit more and was almost shocked at what I was seeing. I was seeing children running out of the building, some of them even limping off, with some adults being among them.

This was generally the all the information I needed to jump into action. These villagers may not fully trust me yet, but that still doesn’t mean that I am going to sit idle while a bunch of children are in danger! School children if I had to guess what the building actually was.

I steeled myself, went back up into the air and made a directly beeline for the burning schoolhouse at the other end of the field. I could see a couple of ponies under me, giving me either surprised or shocked looks as I flew past them. But again I really didn’t pay much attention to them as I had a completely different goal at my sight. The obvious cracking sounds of fire and the distinct screams of little children were already becoming pretty clear in my ears as I got closer.

It took me almost record time to reach the burning inferno from where I started, long before anyone else from the village could hope to achieve. With that thought out of the way, it was pretty much clear that it was more or less up to me to do everything here. Which is fine, because I was planning to do so anyway, giving my natural resistance to fire.

It was also pretty clear that a few of these school kids were still trapped inside, judging by the scream I could hear coming from the burning inferno. Again, all the information I needed and the only incentive I could personally ask for to get me going. I dove myself right into the fray without much thought, again much to the surprise and shock of those watching from afar, and even a few protesters that most likely called out that it was too dangerous and…good-lucks as well, I guess?

Am I suddenly making sense of this gibberish, or is it just me? Anyway, in I went, right through the closest window I could find and started to use my Psychic powers to sense the rooms around me for any signs of live.

And sense I did. Four of them, in fact. Two in the next room while the other two were separated far from one another. One in another room here on the ground floor, while the other was on the second floor on top of us where I guess the explosion took place, because that’s where I could sense a massive hole in the wall.

I coughed a couple of time as the smoke was quickly making itself known within my lungs. I knew that I had to move quickly because of this, not just for myself, but more importantly for these kids too.

I have no idea how resilient pony lungs are, but I doubt that a kid can really survive this for very much longer than I can.

With that plan in mind, I began my search, floating myself around some minor fires and rubble to safely make my way to the next room where the out-cries were coming from. I quickly slipped myself through the busted door; coughing a couple more times before immediately scanning the room for the crying children. Luckily though it didn’t take long for me to spot them. As my eyes immediately fell on a large diagonal hanging shelves, which was hovering dangerously low above these two crying children who most likely sought shelter under it out of instinct.

Not a good place to huddle under, especially when the large support beam holding it up above these kids was quickly being chewed away by flames coming from a hole above.

Like really, I can already see the beam slowly buckling under the shelves weight, which is obviously a bad sign.

My eyes went wide because of that, before the inevitable happened.

Again, my senses once again kicked in as I found myself shooting forward to intercept the falling shelve, flying right under its form and holding it up with all of my physical strength. I would be normally doing this with the aide of my telekinesis, but I wasn’t particularly concentrated on logic at the moment, and more focused on keeping this oversized wall shelve from crushing two native children.

An act the two kids quickly noticed as they both gazed upwards towards me with surprised eyes.

I could her them bubbling on about something, or rather trying to in between their coughs, but I quickly shut them down with a one-eye glare aimed towards them.

“You two…get…get the heck out of here! Make for the exit out in the hall and run, I can’t hold this shelve up for much longer!” I grunted, trying not to breath in too much smoke while also struggling to keep this thing from flattening us.

Luckily, or rather mysteriously, the children seemed to understand my message before they both quickly made a run for it, which in turn allowed me to finally use my brain again (literally) and make use of my psychic powers to hold the shelve for me to ease my burden. Once away from it, I began to cancel out my telekinetic hold on this thing and let it drop, with a very heavy sounding thud mind you.

I am not sure what the heck this shelve was made off, or rather what type of wood was used for its construction, but if it wasn’t for me intervening it would have certainly crushed these little ponies for sure.

With that though, I began to look. Feeling rather satisfied that the two kids were nowhere to be seen. Which meant that they have probably made their way out into the main corridor and out to safety through the front door exit as instructed.

Two down, two more to go, and these two are going to be the trickiest once. I just know it.

Shaking my head. I immediately ascended back into the air and began focusing my psychic energy to relocate the two last remaining kids within this burning school. That is, I would have if it wasn’t for the smoke really clogging up my lungs getting and diminishing my concentration level significantly. I was actually coughing up too much of a storm to really stay focused.

“Blast it…I…I guess I have to…do this the old fashion way then…or get out of this room first before…trying this again…but if I am having troubles now…then the two missing kids are most likely going be…in an even worse…situation then me…I got to keep moving…” I told to myself in between coughs, before flying myself out of the room and into the main entrance hall.

Out of curiosity and slight worry, I momentarily looked over my shoulders at the open door way behind me, and was again most relieved to see that the two children I just saved did made it out ok just as I hoped. Though I couldn’t linger on that relief too much, as every second counts right now.

For both me and the two remaining kids if I am going to stay here for too long.

“Got to quickly check every room I pass by to make sure I don’t miss the third kid down here.” I thought to myself as I started to get moving once more.

It personally is a bit of mystery to me how a village of its size could even have a double storied school in the first place. But I am obviously not going to question this now, as I have more pressing questions to think about.

“Like where the last child is?” I thought to myself as I looked through the last room.

It was then when a section of the roof suddenly collapsed right behind me from where I once flew. Sending out debris and even more smoke into my path and more or less blocking my exit point with a wall of rubble.

I mentally cursed to myself, before simply focusing back on the task at hand. If it wasn’t for my struggle to breath, I would certainly have the mental capacity required to make more use of my psychic abilities, thus making finding this last kid down here a lot easier and more importantly a lot less…

Then I heard it, a faint but still noticeable cough coming from the very room I was facing.

My head snapped back. I immediately flew into the room without a second thought while keeping both my nose and mouth covered with one arm. The smoke was even worse inside here, which was obviously giving me bad signs on the survivability of the kid inside here. Not to mention my visibility tool. Even I was seriously having troubles breathing now.

I then I heard it again, a vague cough coming from this room which forced me to stop and focus.

I stopped while trying to see through the heavy haze of smoke and dancing fires.

“*cough cough* Hey kid…ugh…where are you?” I called out into the room in hopes of getting a response.

And a response I got, again with the the same gibberish I have been hearing so far all day ever since making contact with these natives. But at least it was a response, knowing that it still must be well enough to be able to response in the first place. Though still, judging by the faintness of it, I was obviously running out of time with this one.

“Hold on, I am going to get you out!” I called out, following my senses and finding the aforementioned child neatly huddling under a desk which was a relief. Though again as I had predicted, the kid looked fairly bruised, with very bloodshot eyes and burned patches of fur here and there around its body. I couldn’t help but feel pretty sorry for this kid as I started to reach for it, only to be rejected at first, which was kinda understandable given my…outlandish looks towards him.

I gave him the most sincere smile look I could muster. “Come *cough* come on…please *cough* I am here to…to help you…*cough* I mean you no harm…promise.” I said softly before slowly reaching my arm out towards him.

The kid was silent though. Suspiciously eying my outstretched arm while I on the other hand was starting to get desperate. Not only was this kid now endangering us with his mistrust. But also endangering the other kid as well who I still have to find. I am not sure what the structural integrity of this school might be, but judging by the splintering of wood and the cracking sound echoing all around us, I would guess that it isn’t exactly in its best possible condition.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing is due to collapse at any moment. Which gives me even more reasons to mentally panic in my opinion.

I shook my head. “Please…just…just trust me…*cough* I am here…*cough* *cough* to help *cough* *cough*.” I pleaded, or rather tried to as my lungs were really starting to burn from the lack of oxygen alongside with my eyes.

I could feel my head starting to pound because of it. The lack of air, the heat, and the overall stress if this situation is really starting to nag on my psyche. I have to somehow get this kid to trust me fast or we are both going to die here.

If only I could use my…

“Hey, Victini. Let me talk to him.” The voice of Jirachi suddenly appeared inside my head, which of course made me flinch in surprise.

“What the…Jirachi why are you…”

“Just let me talk to the kid. Just…just give me a couple of seconds to do so. So hold on.” Jirachi stated rather hastily, before leaving my head.

I was still both surprised and confused of course, but that confusion quickly morphed into hope when I noticed the child own transition into a surprised expression. Most likely to the fact that Jirachi has started talking to him mentally.

Thankfully though, whatever Jirachi has psychically told him seemed to work, as he surprisingly began crawling up towards me. But with much pain in his features.

Not sure what this meant, but it obviously doesn’t take a lot of guess to figure it out. Plus, I am going to find out soon enough anyway, now that I am able to reach for his hoof to pull him out from under the desk.

“Oh dear…” I muttered to myself when I was able to see the damage the poor guy had on his right hind leg.

The fur was complete burned off, exposing scarred skin and some bad looking burn marks as well. To think that this little school kid managed to hold on for so long with such a severe injury on his leg is almost a little miracle in my books, a sign of toughness or bravery, or worse; he doesn’t feel it anymore.

The latter being a very troubling thought.

“Don’t…*cough*…worry, I am going to…*cough*…get you out of here.” I told the kid even though he doesn’t understand me. But it’s the message and intention that count, not the language.

With that said, I gently helped the kid up alongside with me as I took off into the air, which in turn, was predictably a total surprise for his little mind, judging by his expression. Though that wondrous expression quickly turned into pain, before transitioning to some coughs instead.

“Crap, got to take this kid out of here.” I thought to myself as I quickly began flying about within this room in hopes of finding a window within this dense smoke.

The original exit path was out of question of course. I may be heat resistant but this kid obviously wasn’t.

“Go fly to your right. There is large enough window you can use.” The ever echoing voice of Jirachi suddenly appeared, which is personally kinda creepy to have when you haven’t been exposed to telepathy for quite some time.

But besides that, I took his offer up without even questioning it. Flying straight towards my right and almost bumping directly into a heavily tainted slab of glass.

This is just how thick the smoke has become, which doesn’t even allow me to see a meter or two away from me.

“Consarn it all, almost smashed through.” I coughed out, while trying to cover up the kids nose and mouth with my free arm. Kinda useless in a way, but at least better than doing nothing.

Either way, I immediately started fiddling with the locks while holding my own breath. I was getting frustrated rather swiftly with this when it turned out that the bloody thing wasn’t going to buckle or budge anytime soon.

“Blasted bronze lock and hardwood frame.” I thought to myself with a frown before I steeled a quick look at the kid.

The child was looking really faint at this point, weakly coughing into my arm which just fired off all kinds of alarm signs in my head.

I knew that I needed to get him out of here and fast and have him risk getting choked to death by all of this soot.

I was about to just bust this window wide open with a psychic blast, before someone else promptly did it for me. I was forced to dodge back, as glass shrapnel was flying everywhere.

Though what surprised me even more was the added edition of Ampharos head peeking out through the now open window.

“Well, what are you waiting for Victini? Get this kid out of here. He looks mighty ill.” Ampharos stated, which he didn’t need to say.

I nod, before flying out of the window ASAP. Once outside, I was personally glad to be able to breathe again normally, as I took full advantage of this opportunity. Taking in as much air as I possibly could and relishing in the coolness that was the outside air.

“Here I can take him off of you.” Ampharos offered as he extended his arms forward.

I again just nod. Before gently handing him the still conscious child. With him finally save, I was finally free to focus on the last child still inside the burning mess.

I immediately took off once again much to the confusion to Ampharos.

“Hey…where are you going?” He called out after me.

I looked back. “Going to search for the last kid.” I called back before concentrating back on the task at hand.

“Be careful,” Was the last callout I heard from him before I was back into the fray and out of earshot. Entering the burning building through the massive hole on the second floor where the explosion must have taken place. Plus, according to the second psychic pulse I sent out, the last kid was actually somewhere close by, which was both convenient and again worrisome at the same time.

If he really is nearby where the explosion took place, then I could only guess what his injuries must be. But thankfully he was still alive, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to sense him in the first place.

I pushed myself through the flames once again, covering up my face from the haze of smoke which immediately assaulted me once more. Thankfully, I did perform the necessary precautions first by mental preparing myself for what was to come while I was briefly outside. I won’t be so psychically hampered as I was before.

This should certainly help me this time, instead of relying on traditional methods to much.

Though besides that, I wasted no time in looking around myself in hopes of spotting the last missing kid quickly. No such luck it seems, even with my generalization of the child location.

I know he is here, but where is a different question all together.

“Hey…*cough* cough* kid…where…where are you?” I called out in hopes of getting a response.

Though no such luck, as I didn’t get the response I was hoping for. This would certainly make things a bit more complicated now.

I began to look around myself once more, though this time with a much keener eye then I did before, ignoring the smoke. It also didn’t help with the fact that this entire building was loudly protesting as well. The entire wooden structure was quickly losing its integrity and it showed, both visually and audibly as well.

I was running out of time.

I more or less doubled my efforts at this point, zipping all across the room like a madman in search of this last kid. I even went so far as to telekinetically lift up large debris and rubble from the floors in hope of finding the little kid underneath them, similar how the last three kids decided to huddle under some furniture’s out of instinct.

I was quickly becoming frustrated once more.

“Darn it, where is he?” I argued with myself, as I was actually started to sweat for the first time thanks to the increasing heat around me.

“Where is he where is he where is he?” I constantly chanted to myself as I flew around the room. Looking through every nook and cranny for the last missing kid.

“Darn it, where can he…” I was about to say, before I suddenly spotted something at the corner of my eye.

I turned my eyes towards it, only to mentally slap myself for having missed something so obvious. I blame the damn smoke.

“Can’t believe I managed to miss a rather big hole in the wall this entire time.” I thought to myself before flying towards it.

That’s when I spotted something quite noticeable sticking out from the pile of rubble.

My eyes went wide in realization. “Is that a…a tail?” I muttered to myself in shock as I float in closer to have a better look.

And to my further shock, it indeed was a tail, a small bushy light blond tail. The same type of tails that these pony natives have. Hairy and quite bushy too. This immediately told me everything I needed to know before using my telekinesis to clear all of this rubble.

I was of course being very gently with my procedure despite the time constraint I was feeling. A large chunk of the floor nearby even decided to give way from the strain while I was doing my thing, crashing down into the ground floor below and kicking up both dust and even more smoke into the room.

“Just a couple more…yes, got it and…” I told myself before finally removing the last piece of rubble and stopping myself.

My eyes again went wide in both shock and fear.

“Oh no…is he…” I was about to say before I saw the little body gently rise and fall just now.

I sighed with relief, which turned into a horrible coughing fit instead. With that done though. I quickly grabbed the little kids body with my telekinesis and started to look around myself for a safe exit. And not a moment too soon either, as the floor underneath the pile suddenly collapsed too. Showing me that the fire has already significantly spread itself in the ground floor too, and was practically eating up the upper floors as a result.

“Blast it, no need to be subtle then, now is there?” I thought to myself before looking up at the badly damaged ceiling right above me.

“Time to bust this thing wide open then.” I told myself, before focusing my mind for a psychic blast aimed at the ceiling. Punching a decently sized hole in the already damaged roof and giving me and the child a quick and easy way to escape. And escaped I did, dashing through the opened roof and high up into the air with the child body following me. Leaving the house and my burden behind me.

“There you are.” I suddenly heard someone say to me from behind, which in turn almost caused me to lose my mental grip on the kid.

I would be glaring at him, but I was frankly feeling a bit too tired to even do that properly. So I opted to just give him the kid, which Jirachi took with his own telekinetic field.

He gave me a worried look. “Just…just get him to someone who can help, or his parents if the former isn’t available. Just…just…” I tried to say, before my vision slowly started to get black all of the sudden.

I guess, the stress, the inhalation of smoke and my overall exhaustion have finally caught up with me in the end.

The last thing I remember is the feeling of me falling out of the sky while a quickly distancing Jirachi was calling out for me.

I didn’t even get the time to feel my body hit the ground.

Chapter 7: Broader Expansion of Events

View Online

Chapter 7: Broader Expansion of events

Edited by: The Great Khan

“I think he’s regaining consciousness,” I called out to everyone after Victini started to moan for the fourth time in a row.

Everybody immediately came rushing down into the basement afterwards, with Ampharos being the last, and even followed by the two pony natives who were generous enough to give us their basement for the time being. Or rather, the supply storage room as it was originally called. It would be used as that, if it wasn’t still for the fact that the fields were at least still a month away from harvest.

Either way, me and Nava watched with great anticipation as Victini was slowly waking himself up from his slumber.

We all felt a sense of relief when he finally opened his eyes. Slowly of course, but it’s the intentions which count.

“Ugh…where…where the heck am I?” Victini mumbled out as he started to blink a couple of time to get the blurriness out of his eyes.

This is when Ampharos stepped up. “Well, you are in a basement, someone else’s basement in fact, and to be even more specific…” He gestures towards the two ponies standing at the foot of the stairs. “…these two’s basement. They have generously offered their large basement, or rather, empty supply room for us to camp out in as thanks for having saved their children from certain death. Well…you did of course. All we did was help with the damage control and transporting the injured back to the village for better treatment.” Ampharos answered before looking down at Victini’s form with a smile.

Victini on the other hand was busy rubbing his head before pushing himself upwards with the other hand. Groaning a bit to himself before attempting to get up fully. Something which Jirachi didn’t approve of almost immediately.

“No, no, no! Just…just stay in bed. Rest a bit. You inhaled a dangerous amount of smoke yesterday, which is why you were out for so long. Take it easy and rest, and keep eating these slices of Oran Berries that I prepared for you on that plate next to you. These should speed up your recover time significantly.” He stated and pointed towards the mentioned plate of berries next to him on a small night stand.

Victini gave the plate a few seconds look before sighing, reaching an arm out to one of those slices and gently putting one of them into his mouth before chewing. He then sighed once more before laying himself back down on the bed. Crossing his arms and gazing up towards the ceiling.

He didn’t seemed to be too happy with his situation it seems, but health comes first after all. Especially when Jirachi’s accounts were true, and even more so in how we first found him.

Covered in soot and left breathing very poorly. Jirachi actually had to jam a few slices of Oran Berry into his throat to help his body cope better with his smoke filled lungs a little, which thankfully worked. Even though it was…a bit awkward to watch him with how much trouble he was having.

He obviously didn’t want to choke him out by accident by doing so. Plus, he isn’t a doctor, so there’s that too. I mean, neither of us are. There actually is a local herbalist here in the village, but as expected, she only had herbs and medical knowledge for ponies and gryphons respectively, and none for Pokémon.

Some of these herbs are even poisonous to Pokémon, as Ampharos managed to deduct when he suddenly developed a small skin rash after trying out one of her oily creams.

Either way, the room was eerily silent afterwards with neither of us having any idea on what to talk about next, or say anything.

Well, Victini at least seemed to know, as he was the one to break the silence.

“Say, what happened to the children I saved? Are they alright, and you mentioned something about these two over there being the parents of one of those kids? Which of the four are they, and again is he or she doing alright?” Victini questioned worriedly before reaching for another slice of Berry and gently chewing on it.

Jirachi smiled. “Well; all of them are doing pretty well thanks to you. The two you saved first are practically unharmed except for some minor cuts and bruises, while the one you help out third is so far the worst one off so far. However, he should also be fine if given enough recovery time and herbs for his leg. At least, according to the herbalist.” He answered with a pause before continuing. “And the last child you saved is actually the son of these two fine individuals over here who have offered us their basement to us as thanks. Though sadly…” He trailed off with a sad look. “…it turned out that he was actually the cause of this disaster, according to some students and one of the teachers. Having tried out a brand new spell during class, which horribly backfire on him as a result. He is sadly still out cold thanks to the incident, but miraculously unscathed minus the heavy knock-out.” He added, rubbing one of his arms in a rather sad manner. A sense of sadness we all shared.

Victini not excluded. “Oh…well at least it is good to know that nothing else happened to him then. I was suspecting the worst when I first fished him out from under all that rubble he was buried in.” He added before sighing once more.

It was my turn to step up…though more to keep the conversation going and to avoid another awkward silence. “Well anyway, it’s still good to know that you are doing well Victini. Your heroic charge along with our contribution of keeping the fire from spreading any further really helped in building a foundation of trust with many of these locals. They even stopped looking at us so suspiciously and were more inclined to try and talk to us, minus the language barrier.” I announced with a smile before looking to my partner. “Also, you should have seen their wondrous faces they all had when Nava over here used his water moves to put out the fire way quicker than a whole gang of them could with buckets. It was quite hilarious to look at.” I added, giving Nava a little nudge which made him blush a bit.

“Well, it was nothing. I wasn’t trying to cause a scene or anything.” He shyly replied which just made me chuckle.

“Well anyway, just make sure to get some rest, Victini. You earned it.” Ampharos stated which we all agreed upon.

“Well, it’s better than trying to fight my own body I guess. It certainly has been a while since I’ve pushed myself this hard, that’s for sure.” He added before popping in another slice.

“Anyway; Nava and I will be off exploring the village if any of you need us.” I stated before making for the door. Nava of course following.

“Well ok then, just stay out of trouble you two and everything should be fine. There are some that still seem rather weary towards us despite everything.” We heard Ampharos call after us, which made both me and Nava nod.

“Actually, I might like to go with them as well, if that’s okay, Chief. Do you mind keeping an eye on Victini over here while the three of us are out and about?” Jirachi stated quickly after we managed to reach the foot of the stairs.

This caused us to hold of course and look back at the two.

Ampharos didn’t look particularly thrilled though. “Really? You three are going to go out there and have some fun while I have to be on nursing duty? And here I thought I was the chief.” He said while scratching his head.

“Well…” Jirachi began innocently. “I am the only one capable of communicating with these ponies with the use of my telepathy, which is obviously a great feature to have when trying to keep these two out of trouble as you said. Avoiding misunderstanding and miscommunication are of course a lot easier when you are capable of proper communication in the first place. Plus, I generally just want to have more chances of learning more about these ponies, like their motives, culture, religions and what-not. Such knowledge could certainly be helpful too, in avoiding any unnecessary mishaps in the future.” He explained, which in turn made me look up at him with a bit of annoyance.

“Hey, we are NOT some random babies that need to be supervised at all times! We can, and will, stay out of trouble if need be. No problem at all.” I stated confidently which made Nava tilt his head towards me.

“Really? I mean, trouble is your middle name as far as I know. Even after all the adventures, hardships and challenges we have been through, you have never really changed much in terms of being a natural trouble magnet with both your hyped attitude and overall naïvety. I think we should have Jirachi join us just to be sure.” Nava countered.

“Well geez, you didn’t have to be so blunt about it, you know.” I sighed while hanging my head low.

“Well sorry but…I just had to say that.” He stated while rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

Well to be fair he is kinda right. I am certainly not the most “tame” individual when it comes to a lot of things, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is just part of the overall Glade package. Trouble and annoying character tropes included.

“Well anyway, let’s go you two, and…” He paused before looking over to one of the two pony adults and smiling at her with his eyes slightly glowing.

The female nodded before smiling back. Both of the ponies then made their way back up towards the stairs, disappearing behind the entry hatch to the basement.

“Alright, we are ready to go.” Jirachi stated before taking the lead.

I was, of course, curious as me and Nava followed. “What did you tell them, Jirachi?”

“Oh nothing much.” He began with a small pause. “Just that the three of us wish to take a stroll through town while Ampharos is going to stay behind to keep Victini company. Nothing too complicated or revealing, really.” He answered as we reached the hatch ourselves and back into the outside world.

The entrance to the basement was actually outside the wooden house. Facing towards the same hilly countryside from where we come, in case some of you wonder. Furthermore, the house itself was actually located right on the edge of town, too. Constructed along a simple road, not too far from the actual main road where most of the traffic was going through, such as caravans and what-not.

Nava and I stretched ourselves just a little bit after we exited through the basement entrance; taking in the fresh cool air of the outside world after having spent some time in the moist and somewhat dusty smelling air down below the cellar. I think it’s more of a cellar than a basement.

“Alright, how about we simple go and do a bit of shopping first to see what this village has to offer, ware-wise? It’s a good thing that gold is used as a currency here, too, which makes using our pokebucks a valid choice to use for future purchases here. If not well…” Jirachi started to smile. “I think I can always fish out a few more gold bars and use those, instead.” He stated with a big happy grin.

“Jirachi…” I started with a tilted head. “Don’t you think that using them is a bit overkill? I mean, you would practically be overpaying for pretty much everything. And not just a little but at a HUGE amount.” I reasoned.

Jirachi though dismiss it. “Nah, its fine. Plus, it would also give me the perfect opportunity to exercise my wish making role a little bit more; something I should be doing instead of mapping the stars and tinkering around with old technology and what-not. This reason should certainly surface for spending so much gold willy-nilly, plus…” he began patting his bag “…I have way more of this stuff than I could ever realistically make use of. The amount of treasures you find on a regular basis in high level dungeons is just crazy. I mean, you two should know, because you have tackled a couple of them yourselves too.” He added while giving us a knowing look.

I rubbed my head. “Well, I guess so. I mean, Nava alone here has a pretty sum of money inside his deposit bank alone from all the golden louplets we found and sold.” I responded.

“Well there you have it then. Now let’s go, I want to know what type of technology or tools these natives must have or use on a daily basis. If not, then…well…I guess a simple stroll to kill some time would be nice too. Maybe even stock up on food while we’re at it.” He stated, before again taking the lead around the house with the two of us following him, of course.

It didn’t take long for most of the town’s attention to fall back on us the moment we hit the open streets once more.

Though as I said, it was far less wondrous and suspicious and more curious over all. Some of them gave us happy smiles and hoof gesture greetings.

I was of course inclined to return the friendly gestures as we casually strolled through the main road. The village overall had a very cozy feeling to it, if you don’t mind the muddy roads sometimes and the overall mistrust from the beginning.

Overall, this place does has a completely different feel to it from most Pokémon towns and villages I have visited before, and I am not referring to the obvious here of having ponies running around instead of Pokémon.

It’s just…a different atmosphere overall.

“Hey, let’s go and check out that store over there. It seems to be selling something that looks a lot like apples and other fruits by the looks of it.” Jirachi suddenly stated after we spent a couple of minutes just walking alongside the road.

Well, he floated, but that’s not the focus here.

Maybe I am just being crazy, but I just had this distinct feeling that we were being watched from somewhere this entire time. No, it wasn’t the typical stares we would get from the locals, but it was more of a type of stare you would feel when someone is actively trying to spy on you from afar.

I am not sure if this feeling is genuine or not, or if I am just going nuts right now. But it certainly wouldn’t be the first time I have gotten this feeling from somewhere, that’s for sure.

I was actually forced to stop and look around myself, which my partner next to me noticed.

“Hey Glade, what…what is it?” He asked curiously while tilting his head.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, just had the feeling that we were being watched from somewhere.” I answered while keeping vigilant.

“Pffff, really? I mean we are already getting stares from pretty much everyone around here no matter where we are in the village. I think that all of this nonstop attention is maybe getting into your head or something. Or maybe it’s your overall anxiety to go out there and do some more exploring instead of just sitting here and waiting for something else to happen. I at least can somewhat relate to the last a bit more. I’m a lot more anxious of going out there myself, and see what else this new world has to offer species-wise. The idea alone is pretty enticing if I had to be honest.” Nava stated.

I sighed, “Yeah…yeah I guess you might be right with that to some extent. Maybe I am just getting a bit jumpy inside my head thanks to all of the undivided attention we have been getting nonstop.” I answered while scratching my head.

Nava smiled. “Hey, it's fine. You’re not the only one who feels or thinks this way. All of this attention has certainly been making me feel really awkward lately. Even now when things have finally eased up on us for the better.” He stated, which in turn made me give him a curious look.

“Wait…you just said that you were feeling the same way, weren’t you?” I asked, feeling somewhat suspicious with the idea that suddenly cropped up inside my mind regarding the subject.

Nava was confused of course. “Well yeah. Same with the sensation that we were actually…” He trailed off, before the idea suddenly clicked in him as well.

We both sported a look of surprise. “Wait…if that is the case, then shouldn’t this feeling we’ve been feeling this entire time be true? The…sensation that something was watching us this entire time the moment we hit the open streets? I mean, if we both somehow felt it at the same time, doesn’t that automatically confirm that we were actually being spied on from the shadows?” I theorized, getting more and more worried about it as the idea continued to evolve itself inside my mind.

I mean sure, being personally paranoid about something wouldn’t have really meant much. But having Nava over here feel the same thing does make this idea a lot more plausible.

We both knew it, which is why we both started to look around ourselves franticly in hopes of finding something out of the ordinary.

Which we obviously failed. Besides the happy-go-lucky villagers going about their day and the few pony driven carts that just passed by us, there was nothing else that looked even remotely suspicious.

What was even more worrying about this was the fact that the sensation was now gone, too. Like, whoever was watching us was no longer here, and has disappeared to who knows where.

This was extremely creepy and worrying, and it showed in both of our expressions.

“Hey you two, you got to try these.” Jirachi’s voice suddenly appeared behind us, which almost made me jump out of my tail.

We both turned around, only to be met with a beaming smile and a lot, and I mean A LOT of baskets filled with nothing but apples and mangoes floating alongside him. I have certainly seen a lot of apples in my days, but the mangoes were a little bit of a rarity to my knowledge. Though what intrigued me the most was just how much of this stuff he actually had floating alongside him with one half of an apple firmly held in one of his hands.

Or rather, in his mouth, as he suddenly took another bite of it and blushed out of sheer joy.

“Oh dear Arceus above, you two just gotta try these apples, they are by far the juiciest apples I have ever tasted! Oh I just HAD to buy all of them while shoving another gold bar at the store vendor’s face. But seriously, here, try them and see for yourself.” Jirachi stated, before levitating a pair of shiny reds directly towards us.

We of course took them. Giving these rather generic looking apples some questionable looks before we both chowed down.

Our eyes immediately widen as the sweet and plentiful juices of these apples assaulted our taste buds. We were so shocked by its taste that we even forgot to chew. Well, until the shock wore off with the two of us quickly devouring the rest of the apple as a result; core and stem included.

“Pretty good, huh?” Jirachi asked after we devoured the apples.

We both nod with huge smile. “They were AMAZING! I would have never thought that apples could be so juicy. This is absolutely amazing!” I stated happily with a jump.

Nava nodded to that. “Yeah, in fact, it's best that we never tell Swirlix about this. Otherwise she would most likely feast herself into a coma if she ever gets her paws on them, if that is even possible.” He added to which the both of us chuckle.

“Well yeah, you’re kinda right with that. Better not inform her of this, or she might actually decide to leave the expeditions society to live here instead. And there aren’t any good qualified cooks back in Lively Town as far as I know.” I added.

Jirachi on the other hand just smiled. “Well anyway, let’s just head back for now so that I can deposit these baskets back with Victini and the chief. I mean, I can certainly carry a lot more than these, but that obviously doesn’t make it any less awkward to do so. Plus…” He looked around. “We are turning in a crowd again.” He stated.

We both nod. “Well yeah, probably from the fact that you bought out a whole store’s worth of fruit in one go. I think you are taking this, ‘spending gold around the village,’ a little bit too extreme now. In the end, you are most certainly just going to get flooded with these ponies trying to make you buy something from them for one of your gold bars or sacks of coin.” I tried to warn.

Though Jirachi dismissed it. “Nah, its fine, and as I stated before; I have no problems with that. I cherish knowledge, artifacts and technology a lot more than just silly old gold. I mean, if I can use it to make other people happy and making their wishes true that way, then so be it. At least it means that I would be exercising my naturally given role again, which is just great. Making dreams come true without having to use my powers is a positive. Efficiency at the finest.” He answered, beaming to himself at this own clever way of thinking, which in turn just made the two of us sigh.

“Anyway, let’s get back to both Ampharos and Victini so that I can get rid of all of these baskets and get some more later on. I am going to look if they have something similar to a telescope too around here so that I can start peeking into their night sky. Kinda stupid of me for having forgotten to bring mine with me. Darn it all. But…what can you do?” He stated with a small frown at the end before floating back towards the same path we came from.

We of course were forced to follow, not just because of Jirachi himself, but rather for the fact that I really wanted some more of these apples, and maybe try out these mangoes too while at it.

Sometimes, we can all just think with our stomachs.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

“So, how are you feeling now? A bit better maybe? I mean, you already cleared the entire plate since the last time I checked.” Ampharos asked as he came back from his little exploration trip from around the cellar.

Not sure what exactly enticed him to explore an empty cellar. But then again, it at least gave me an excuse to be alone for a while with my own thoughts. I wasn’t even aware that I subconsciously cleared the plate while being mentally trapped.

Either way, I turned my attention back towards him. “I am doing fine. I’ll admit that I feel a little bit better than I did when I woke up.” I groaned. “Argh…if these were the good old days then I wouldn’t even be in this state in the first place. You wouldn’t believe what kinds of Pokémon both me and Pericles had to face back then. Crazy; let me tell you that.” I exclaimed, remembering the few times where our adventures where almost cut short. Power hungry and dangerous Pokémon were pretty common back then.

I heard Ampharos chuckle. “Really, you make yourself sound like an old geezer when you say it like that. A strange thing to say for someone who is practically immune to the passage of time, unlike most of us common folk.” He commented, scratching his head a bit at the end.

I hummed. “Well, yeah. Physically I really haven’t changed that much for the last couple of decades, or in your case millennia as far as I know. But still…” I exhaled. “Being the keeper of the Void Orb has pretty much kept me very complacent over the years compared to the activities I once used to partake in on an almost daily basis. It is also funny to see how much our world has changed since those times. Crazy to think what effects time can have. Thinking back on those memories now, does make it feel as if it only happened yesterday, and not decades ago.” I lengthily explained, trailing off a bit from the main subject as my own memories once again betrayed me.

It was Ampharos’ turn to hum. “Well yes, that is just the nature of memories as a whole. I also can still remember my younger days as a Flaaffy, and even further back when I was just a wee little Mareep. You know…days when I actually still had fur.” He added, also seeming to trail off on his own as he sported a rather depressed look while looking down on himself.

“I used to have such luxurious looking fur. Oh, I was the envy of all of my siblings back home.” He added, which awoke my curiosity.

“You actually have a family somewhere?” I asked, feeling genuinely interested.

He nodded. “Well, yes of course, they are actually living in a small herding village to the north of the grass continent. I do still write them letters from time to time just to keep in touch with them. Though…” He trailed off a bit in thought. “It has been a mighty long while since I last visited my old home. I should really remedy that when we get back to our world. I am sure both Ma and Pa would be thrilled to see their son again.” He added, which kinda made me smile a bit.

It always sounds kinda nice when somebody talks so fondly about their parents and family. Something I obviously can’t really relate too, as I have absolutely no idea who my own parents were or if I really had any to begin with.

A common trope all Mythic Pokémon share, and just another piece of mystery of our existence.

“We’re baaaaack!” Somebody suddenly sang, which immediately got our attention.

We both perked up.

“Oh hey, Jirachi, Nava and Glade! How are you…uh…” Ampharos stopped and started to confusingly gawk at the couple of large baskets filled with fruits trailing behind the aforementioned Pokémon.

The two kids in question were actually snacking on some of those fruits, too. Moaning and blushing happily at something that obviously must be very delicious.

This very much made me curious, but right now, I was more interested on the fact that Jirachi was carrying a huge number of apples and mangoes behind him for some reason. I mean, it is pretty clear that he most likely bought them. But what was not so obvious was the reason why he bought so much of them in the first place.

If it’s for provisions, then I can understand. Though if that is the case, then wouldn’t it make a little bit more sense to have a bit more diversity in regards to your selection of food besides just apples and mangoes?

Either way, I will find out soon enough. Plus, these two kids are really digging into their apples with a lot of enthusiasm. Which again, made me super curious.

“Well, well, well, this is certainly…a lot of grocery shopping you have done there Jirachi old buddy. Though why only apples and mangoes if I may ask?” Ampharos questioned while tilting his head a bit.

“Well, it’s simple.” Jirachi began before levitating an apple towards the chief. “Just have a bite and see…or rather taste, for yourself.” He stated with a smile.

Ampharos, of course, took the offered apple and confusingly inspected it first before taking a bite. The moment he did though, it was as if someone had pulled a switch inside Ampharos’ brain, as his entire form froze after the first crunch.

I was somehow even more curious about this then I was before, especially when he suddenly sprung back to life with the apple basically gone in under 5 seconds.

Yeah, definitely curious now.

“Oh my gosh, this apple you gave me was absolutely divine! No wonder you bought so many of them from the start! I can already feel both my strength and enthusiasm returning in full force after having tasted something so delicious. Not that I lost my enthusiasm in the first place, of course, but…now I am definitely pumped to do more. Much, much, much more!” Ampharos stated with glee before holding his head high with a large and determined grin on his face.

“Here, you should probably try one out too. It might help you recover faster, too, if Ampharos’ reaction to it is anything to go by.” Glade suddenly stated, holding out an apple for me in one of her hands while smiling.

I took her offer, of course. Inspecting the apples first just as Ampharos did before taking a bite. My eyes momentarily widened out of surprise before quickly normalizing.

These apples were good, very good. But really nothing special compared to the things I have tasted before. One of the obvious perk you can have when living on a world hopping chain of islands is the chance of taste all kinds of otherworldly fruits, foods, deserts, and what not.

Though besides that, these are still some really darn good apples if I had to be honest.

“Pretty good, certainly a lot juicier and sweeter than the ones back home.” I stated while chewing.

“Yeah, I know right? Who would have thought that another world could harbor much better apples then our own?” Glade answered, before using a vine whip to pluck out another apple from one of the baskets and eating it as well.

“You know, I’m also wondering about these mangoes.” Ampharos announced before taking one.

“I don’t know, I really only bought them because they are somewhat of a rarity to see in Lively Town.” Jirachi answered before finally putting all the baskets down.

“Well, no better time but the present, then. Let’s see if these mangoes also surpass the ones from our world.” Ampharos stated, before lifting the fruit up to his mouth and taking a rather large bite of it.

He started to chew quietly as the rest of us awaited the results with great anticipation. After a few seconds of chewing, he swallowed, before tentatively smacking his lips and looking down at the fruit he had just tasted.

“Well, how is it?” Glade asked curiously.

“Well…” Ampharos began. “It tastes like mangoes, that’s for sure.” He answered, getting a mix of disappointed responses from everyone, including me.

“Well, at least the apples are super good.” Glade added before taking another bite out of the apple and just getting red around the cheeks all over again.

I did the same, biting into what was left of my apple and enjoying it for what it was.

“Well alright, I guess I am off again.” Jirachi suddenly announced before making his way back towards the stairs.

“Off? Off where?” Ampharos asked.

“Well to go find myself a telescope, or at least something similar to one so that I can finally start charting the skies in this world and compare them with our own in terms of constellations and position. Not to mention also finding out if their stars also harbor some form of cosmic secrets or powers behind them just like the ones back home. If so, then I personally might be able to make some use out of them thanks to my wish making powers.” He explained after turning himself around to face the chief.

Ampharos hummed. “Well alright, very good idea there, Jirachi. Please, go ahead and do so. Having knowledge of their stars and their overall position in the heavens can be majorly beneficial when trying to navigate this new world. That is, if the locals’ maps of nearby areas are unavailable or nonexistent, that is. Maybe you should also ask around for something like that if you get the chance, Jirachi. Having a map as well is obviously very useful as well when it comes to explorations.” He suggested, which in turn made Jirachi nod.

“Got it, chief. I’m sure that they at least have something similar to that if something like a telescope is impossible to find here. I’ll go ask every store owner around the village for a map, just to be sure.” He stated before finally floating up the stairs and disappearing.

“Well then, in that case I guess it should be my turn to head out this time. I am very anxious after all to have a closer look around myself. Well, hope you and Nava can keep an eye on Victini over here while I do the same as Jirachi. I guess a little local shopping spree is an order, and maybe I’ll even find something interesting or useful to buy. Having two Pokémon scouting out the shops is obviously better and faster than just one.” Ampharos quickly stated, before passing me and making for the stairs himself.

“What…really? But we didn’t even get the chance to explore the village ourselves yet, and now you are going to leave us on guard duty for Victini?” Glade shockingly questioned, which in turn I found a little bit insulting in the way they seem to think of me right now.

“Hey, I am not that weak right now, you know. I might be sore, but I’m far from helpless when push comes to shove!” I annoyingly stated.

“Well, I personally never claimed that.” Ampharos answered as he climbed the stepped. “Also, sorry for throwing you under the carriage right now Nava and Glade, but…that apple really energized me and I’m just itching to have a more proper look at this place and its natives. You two can have all the chances in the world to do your own exploration after Victini is good enough to get out of bed without any issues. Until then, simply for safety reasons, it’s better for someone to stay close to him in case something happens. It isn’t exactly necessary, knowing how capable Victini truly is on his own, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” Ampharos added before finally reaching the top of the stairs and the exit.

Glade sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She responded, sounding quite depressed.

“Well, having me as company can’t be that bad for you two to be depressed about it.” I mumbled to myself as I watched Nava next to me suddenly perk up.

“But hey Glade, how about just looking at the bright side of this?” He announced which got Glade’s attention.

“What bright side?” She curiously asked.

“Well…” He began with a grin. “Jirachi left all of the delicious apples here that you just seem to love so much. And there are so many of them here that you don’t have to worry about eating too many. If you can even make it that far that is…we really do have a crap ton of apples right now.” Nava suggested.

Well, Glade’s sudden transition from sad to happy was almost comical. “Oh yeah, you’re right! Thanks for pointing that out, Nava! I mean, now we can fill ourselves with these overly delicious apples without much hassle. Maybe taking care of Victini might not be such a bad thing after all!” She jumped up happily before landing on the apples afterwards.

“Hey…I’m still here you know.” I announced, feeling quite annoyed by her comment.

Well she ignored me, and so did Nava as the two were immediately engrossed with the apples they were devouring.

It was my turn to sigh. “Well if you can’t beat them, join them I guess.” I muttered before levitating an apple as well and grabbing it. Taking a quick bite of it and just mentally sighting at the sweet juicy tasted.

I would say one more day. One more day and I can finally get my butt out of this basement and back out into the outside world.

I think I might actually also have to return back to the Isle for just a moment. Not just to make sure the Void Orb and waters are still doing fine, but to also check if anything had passed through the portal alongside us.

I could have sworn I felt something odd after both Ampharos and Victini traveled through the dimensional tunnel. I didn’t bring it up at the time, because I was actually somewhat more concerned with the fact that Glade almost got hardcore flattened by the large electric-type Pokémon that is Ampharos.

Though, saying that out loud would most likely result in him taking it personally and getting depressed by it.

He certainly is a bit of a goofball, especially when it comes to his terrible sense of directions; or so everyone keeps saying.

It does actually made me think. “Wonder how well Ampharos is going to be, wondering the village all alone when his sense of direction is so disastrously bad. It certainly would be a funny thing to watch if I wasn’t still somewhat bound to the bed.” I thought to myself before also mentally deciding that I should maybe lay this idea out to the two kids who know him more than I do.

“Hey…” I called out to get their attention. “Don’t you think that he is most likely going to get himself lost out there if he wanders the village alone in his own accord?” I announced, making both Glade and Nava stop their snacking as their eyes went wide.

“Oh dear Arceus above, you’re right! The chief is definitely going to end up somewhere that he most likely shouldn’t be in.” Glade openly stated before switching her gaze back on me.

“Thanks for the heads up with that, Victini. Sorry if we have to leave you now, but someone does need to keep an eye on him in case he accidentally runs into some trouble on his own.” She added, before switching her gaze to the Froakie. “Come on, Nava, let's catch up with Ampharos.” She stated, before the two of them were quickly off towards the stairs and eventually out of this cellar.

I chuckled. “Well…I guess all of these morsels are now mine to enjoy at my heart’s content. I may have tasted better fruits before, but I certainly won’t say no to apples such as these. Actually, I wonder where these things might actually be grown out here. I haven’t seen anything close to resembling an apple orchard around the village. Guess they must have been imported or whatever. Probably from one of the caravans that sometimes pass by. Maybe Jirachi will be able to find his desired telescope with one of them, If any even pass by, that is, while we’re here.” I thought to myself out loud as I grabbed another apple with my telekinesis and began biting down on it.

Damn, these apples really are good. Wonder if I can take some of them with me so that the garden and orchard caretakers back at the Isles could replicate them. That would certainly be good idea if I’m going to be heading back home.

Chapter 8: The emergency of a past

View Online

Chapter 8: The emergence of a Past

Edited by: The Great Khan

“Azelf, AZELF!” Somebody called out, breaking the serene peace of a long lost and forgotten ruin within a long lost and forgotten place of an equally forgotten past.

A Pokémon perked up at that, not because of someone calling its name, but more because of the fact that something didn’t felt quite right just now. Something suddenly went amiss within this Pokémon’s mind, no matter how faint it was just a few moments ago.

He already could tell that something was wrong. And he guessed the outcry from one of his colleges was proof of that.

He turned himself around, watching as a frantic looking pink headed Pokémon was flying towards him in a frantic manner, looking quite distressed and worried, something Azelf shared as the aforementioned Pokémon stopped in front of him, looking quite exhausted.

No surprise, her domain is actually quite a ways off as far as Azelf was concerned. He guessed that she must have physically flown herself over here instead of just teleporting to his lake like how she and Uxie would normally do. Guess the sense of urgency and panic clouded her common sense in some form. Understandable, especially given her reaction.

“Mesprit, what’s wrong? Why do you look so distressed?” Azelf asked his fellow college, flying closer to her and giving her a rather concerned look.

Mesprit took a couple of moments to collect herself before gazing back up to meet Azelf’s eyes. “Uxie has… Uxie has just informed me of some very terrible news. He…” She paused to gulp. “He just informed me that the prison barrier within the Nulvoid has been broken, and that the Pokémon who used to be imprisoned inside of it is no longer there. It was Uxie’s turn to travel to the Nulvoid to both guard the barrier and to strengthen it once more with his psychic powers. But when he arrived, the was already breached, with its main inhabitant long gone. This is a disaster!” Mesprit shouted, clutching her head as she mentally panicked.

Azelf wasn’t so far off from feeling the same as well. As the news fully rocked him to his very core, and filled him both with dread and shock at this terrible reality. He knew which Pokémon they were all referring too. His escape alone was bad news enough- no, disastrous news as far as he was concerned.

“WHAT!?” He eventually exclaimed in both shock and anger.

Mesprit nods. “Yes…well, that’s what Uxie told me. He also told me to come and inform you of this incident and lead you to the Nulvoid so that we can make our own picture of this terrible incident. He is currently waiting for us at Balencore Island in the heart of the Nulvoid dimension. We should hurry and see this for ourselves.” Mesprit added and getting a determined nod from Azelf in return almost immediately.

At least know he knew that what he suddenly felt earlier wasn’t a fluke. If only it were.

Both Mesprit and Azelf began to concentrate their psychic powers on the lake, causing the water within the center of the lake to glow; a small vortex appearing around its epicenter, opening a portal to the dark and twisted parallel reality of the Nulvoid dimension.

Both Mesprit and Azelf didn’t waste any time as they both flew directly through the swirling portal at the center of the lake. Once past its fresh holds, both Mesprit and Azelf quickly found themselves in the shadowy world of the Nulvoid, where the void reigns supreme and where copy sections of their world floated around within the dark and purple clouded space as independent islands. The only light that existed in this realm was an ominous looking yellow light shining from the horizon, splitting the top layer of endless clouds, from the bottom layer of this surreal reality.

Overall, it was a very lonely and depressing looking realm; a perfect prison for those who are deemed too dangerous to roam the Pokémon world. Especially when there was only one psychically existing entrance point onto and off of this surreal world.

“No matter how many times I’ve been here, this dimension is still creepy as all heck, let me tell you that.” Azelf openly commented, to which Mesprit could only agree.

“Anyway, we should be pretty close to the island itself now. Let’s fly, Uxie is waiting for us as we speak.” She stated, before looking around.

“There.” She suddenly stated before flying in the designated direction.

Azelf of course followed, seeing the large floating landmass himself in front of him. The bottom half of this landmass was facing off the void below, and was covered in far-reaching, massive rock spikes and crevasses. Though the top portion didn’t look that much better, either. A dead wasteland was all that greeted the two as they got closer to its surface, alongside ruins of long perished Pokémon that had been banished to this realm eons ago.

Perhaps the Nulvoid once used to be a bright, lively and fertile looking world just as theirs. Though if that was the case, any legitimate records or traces of such a past has long since evaporated to the ever moving presence of time. Only a few actual things life here, which are generally known to be highly poisonous or dangerous for any Pokémon or living thing from their world.

Either way, these glaring issues were, of course, not their main concern as they eventually reached the ruins themselves, nestled in between some mountains at the edge of the Isle. They could immediately tell that something was wrong; the barrier which normally surrounds the Ruins was no longer present. An alarming sight on its own, but even more so when the two spotted the carnage that assaulted the ruins themselves

A massive crater was at the center of this ancient place, a telltale sign that something more must have gone through here besides just the escape of its only inhabitant.

Both Azelf and Mesprit eventually spotted Uxie hovering above the crater. He quickly noticed them as they came up beside him.

“Uxie, what happened?” Azelf naturally asked, even though he pretty much knew the answer already.

Uxie frowned. “Well, it’s pretty clear isn’t it? The prison barrier around this place is gone, and the Pokémon it was supposed to contain is no longer here, either. Or at least, nowhere nearby.” Uxie answered, tapping his chin a bit in thought at the last sentence.

This caught both Mesprit and Azelf’s attention. “Wait…then that means that HE must still be here, roaming about within the Nulvoid.” Azelf perked up as the realization hit him.

He sported a determined look. “Right, in that case we better start searching for him then, quickly. His powers couldn’t possibly have been restored to their fullest yet, which means that the three of us could easily confront him on our own, weaken him and create a new prison space to contain him.” He suggested, before looking in between his two colleges.

“Uxie, your psychic pulse is the strongest and farthest reaching of the three of us. Can you use it to detect his psychic signature?” Azelf requested.

Uxie nodded. “Sure thing.” He responded, before Azelf turned his attention to Mesprit.

Or rather, he would have loved too, if it wasn’t for Uxie’s sudden outcry.

“Oh dear Arceus, no!” He shouted in shock. “The Gate…Mesprit the GATE!” Uxie shouted in panic while pointing at the black dashing figure way up in the sky.

But it was too late, whatever it was, it was clearly making a direct beeline for the still-open portal in the air space where both Azelf and Mesprit just entered from. Mesprit on the other end was too shocked to really do or say anything, while Azelf on the other hand was not so content just sitting by and watching the figure fly away, as he immediately jumped into action and gave chase to the dashing object.

“I am NOT LETTING YOU LEAVE!” He screamed at the top of his lungs as his forehead gem started to glow. He started to focus his mind for a shadow ball attack, causing an orb of negative energy to form in front of his forehead before firing it towards his target, racing forward faster than Azelf could fly. Though unfortunately, it still wasn’t fast enough to catch the fleeing Pokémon as it jumped into the vortex before the attack could hit it. The ball instead shattered on the surface of the vortex and caused Azelf to curse mentally.

He stopped, crunching his teeth in anger as he glared at the portal.

It didn’t take long for the two remaining Spirit Guardians to catch up with him though, with Mesprit looking quite distressed.

“I am so…so sorry. If I had closed the portal beforehand none of this would have happen. This is a disaster.” She exclaimed, pulling on her pink head protrusions in panic.

Uxie rested a hand on Mesprit’s shoulder to calm her. “It’s okay, you didn’t see this possibility coming. In fact, I should have been the one to know this ahead of time when I saw that the barrier was gone, and not too long ago as well. But just like you, I was too shocked and surprised to even think clearly at the time.” He tried comfort her.

Azelf shook his head. “Either way, there is nothing for us here. One of the most dangerous Pokémon from the distant past is now free and roaming the Pokémon world once again. We should jump through the portal ourselves and continue with the pursuit. We cannot allow him to regain his strength while he is still weak enough for us three to take him on and detain him. We gotta go after him.” He suggested, looking over his shoulder at the two before focusing back at the vortex with a frown.

He was about to jump in before Uxie caught him. “Wait, such a plan would already be a lost cause. I doubt that Gallade is going to be stupid enough to stay around for any lengthy period of time for us to recapture him. I am positive that he teleported himself far away from the lake, the moment he exited the portal.” Uxie stated, getting a simple groan of frustration in return from his fellow guardian.

“I would prefer to just hunt him down himself, and drag him back here if I have to.” He muttered.

“I know, but we are going to be needing a lot more help than just the three of us. It’s too bad that the Isle’s and its inhabitants have not yet returned. Otherwise getting help would be a lot more…” Uxie tried to say, before Mesprit suddenly butted in after the mentioning of the mysterious Isles.

“Actually, the Mysterious Isles have returned to our world for some time now. A couple of months back, in fact, if the gossip of some traveling Pokémon I spied close to my domain are to be believed.” Mesprit laid out, getting the immediate attention of the other two guardians.

“Well, that changes everything then.” Uxie stated. “In that case, we know what to do now. What better way to deal with this possible threat than to ask for the help of those who were able to stop him in the first place? I am sure both Victini and Pericles should still be there. Time doesn’t function the same way on the Isles as they do anywhere else, after all.” He suggested.

The two Pokémon nodded. “Indeed, better hurry too before he allows himself to be introduce to the world. Which at that point, would mean that he has already gained most of his strength and allies. With haste, then.” Azelf announced, before jumping through the portal first, followed by Mesprit and lastly Uxie.

The portal then eventually closed behind them. Leaving the Nulvoid dimension as quiet and lonely as it has always been.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Ugh…everything hurts…I barely slept last night too…thanks to everyone here.” I muttered to myself as I got up from my pile of hay to greet the morning of this new day.

Well, a good morning this was certainly not to be. Reminiscent to the facts I have just muttered out. It was if I was sleeping inside a workshop or something, because the sawing that took place all night was just ridiculous. Ampharos, Victini, and heck, even Jirachi to some extent were some of the loudest carpenters I’ve ever meant.

Nava though, in comparison, was just fine with this, but that was only because of the fact that he covered up his ears with some of his cloudy fluff growing on his neck to dampen the noise. If only I had personally realized this sooner, otherwise I would have asked for some of it myself while he was still awake. I personally just found it rude to wake him up afterwards.

“Seem that I am the only one awake. well again, no surprise, judging on how difficult it was for me to stay asleep in the first place.” I muttered again before forcing myself off my bed and stretching a bit to get the stiffness out.

Once my morning exercises were done, I began to look around. Nava was of course sleeping on his own pile of hay next to me to my left, without a care in the world and with his ears stuffed with his own fluff. Victini in comparison was occupying his full fledged bed on the right middle wall of the room with Jirachi just casually floating close to him, also still sleeping. Ampharos on the other hand was occupying the left upper corner of the room with his own massive pile of hay. Generously sawing away for a building project I wasn’t even aware he undertook.

Funny thinking about him though. As expected, letting him wandering off all on his own yesterday was just a recipe for him getting lost once more. I don’t know how Ampharos does it, but he somehow managed to wobble himself to a completely new area outside the village. A new forest in fact, which was actually quite a ways off from the village itself and also serving as both a local fuel source and building material for the villagers. It actually took us quite some time to locate and lead the poor chief back to the village, with the help of Jirachi of course.

If it wasn’t for him actively asking around the village for the chief’s whereabouts, then he might have actually gotten himself even more lost than he could have. And without Dedenne or Espurr nearby, finding him would have been very, very difficult. Especially in a new world like this.

But anyway, we found him and that’s what counts. I think Jirachi even made it his personal mission now to stay close to the chief at all times to not repeat such an incident ever again, much to Ampharos’ slight despair and protest.

I sighed, scratching my head with one hand while rubbing my eyes with the other.

“I guess it’s time for breakfast then.” I mumbled to myself before casually making my way over to the baskets of mangoes and apples at the far left corner and helping myself to one of them.

Or at least, I would have if a faint noise coming from upstairs didn’t stop me from doing so. I turned my head towards the basement stairs, looking upwards towards the exit before realizing that one of the cellar hatches was actually open. Giving me both a wonderful view of the bright morning sky but also the image of a curious looking pony. A child, if I had to guess given its size.

I knew who she was. “Oh, hey there.” I called out, quietly of course as I didn’t want to wake up the rest of the Snoring Brigade.

I quickly grabbed a pair of apples from the basket before promptly making my way upwards towards the somewhat creaky sounding staircase. The little child was somewhat surprised by that of course, but otherwise stood her ground as I approached her.

I smiled, offering her one of the apples as a friendly gesture, which she accepted with her own smile before taking the apple with that weird horn of hers.

Not sure what type of power that is, but Jirachi firmly stated that it was somewhat related to psychic abilities. How, I am not sure, but that is kind of understandable for a grass-type like me.

Either way it’s good for her, as hooves don’t look particularly useful in anything other than walking and perhaps hitting something. The large number of hornless ponies I see living in the town usually do everything with their mouths, which doesn’t seem particularly effective.

But again, what do I know? I’ve only been here for like 3 days without having done much exploring or learning on my own. Something I should fix… if my future schedules remains distraction free of course.

Either way, besides my never-ending thoughts keeping my brain occupied, both me and the little green pony in front of me simply enjoyed our apples without much talk. I mean, it's kinda hard to do so otherwise when you are too busy munching down on these apples as fast as you possibly can. Apparently, she was thinking that too as she was also eating it rather quickly.

Not sure how much these apples cost or if they are considered to be an expensive food item or not, but thanks to Jirachi’s overuse of gold bars, I will probably never know as long as he is around.

“Oh, hey Glade, you didn’t tell me that you already woke up. Already munching on those apples I see.” I suddenly heard Nava’s voice behind me as he came up the stairs while still rubbing his eyes.

I gave him a smile. “Well yeah, I just didn’t want to wake you up as you looked so peaceful. I am not so sure about you, but I didn’t exactly sleep like a rock last night, all thanks to Ampharos and Victini respectively. These two can seriously snore if they want to, especially when they are having a subconscious competition on who snores the loudest.” I answered, giving off a long yawn at the end.

Nava tilted his head. “Really? Why didn’t you tell me that before I nicked off after having stuffed my ears? I would have easily giving you some of my cloud wool if you just woke me up.” He stated.

I sighed. “Well, yeah but…I wasn’t going to wake you up just for that. Just seems kinda rude to wake someone up like that.” I answered, rubbing the back of my neck.

Nava just shrugged, before finally noticing the little kid standing right in front of us with a confused but still very curious look plastered on her features.

“Oh, hey there.” Nava greeted her with a smile. “You must be the daughter of the nice pair of ponies that allowed us to use their basement as a temporary shelter. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” Nava greeted, which in turn made the little thing smile as well, despite the fact that she most likely has no idea what he just said to her.

Well, a good smile is affectionate after all.

She started to say something, though again in that completely foreign language that none of us can understand, sounding more like gibberish to us than actual words.

So with that problem, it was then our turn to look at her confused and curious at the same time. I was personally wondering when we would be able to get Mawile to this world to start working on a more proper study and translation of the pony language, because having to rely on Jirachi alone is obviously not the most efficient way of doing things.

I have nothing against that, of course, but having the chance to actually learn the language ourselves would be cool. So until then, all we can simply do now is just stare at the little green pony with a sense of loss. Minus her body language of course, but the only thing she was doing right now was smiling and pointing her hoof at a general direction, which of course doesn’t help much.

“She is saying that a merchant caravan has arrived in the village, and that they have temporarily opened up their wares for sale to the villagers.” Jirachi’s voice suddenly chimed in, as he came floating over above us.

I looked up. “Really? Well, that’s great. You pretty much told us that you were hoping for a caravan to pass by so that you can have a much better chance of finding what you were looking for. Though…why is she telling us this?” I asked at the end.

Jirachi smiled. “Simple; I asked her mother and father yesterday if they could perhaps inform us when such a caravan does arrive as long we are casually pitching tents inside their basement, so to say. I wasn’t particularly expecting one to come by so soon, given how uncommon these caravan passing are according to the others. But hey, I take my luck with selfish pride if and when it presents itself to me, and lucky this certainly is.” He answered before smiling down to the little child and most likely giving her his thanks telepathically.

She smiled back, saying a few words in her native tongue before running off and disappearing around the corner of the house, leaving the two of us perplexed.

“Well, time to check this caravan out then. You two can easily come along if you want to.” He offered.

I nod. “Sure thing. Both Ampharos and Victini are probably still asleep anyway, and sitting around all day is something I’m not very known for doing well. Plus…” I paused for a bit in thought. “…I’m kinda curious to see what a pony caravan looks like and what they might have in term of wares. Plus, who knows; we might actually be coming across a brand new species too. Even more reason to come along and have a look at it ourselves.” I answered before turning my attention to Nava. “How about you? Do you want to come along too, Nava?” I asked, to which he simply nodded.

“Well, it seems we’re coming along then.” I announced with a smile.

“Great! The more the merrier, or at least that’s what Ampharos always likes to say. I bet the only reason he keeps saying that is to keep himself safe from the possibility of getting lost when others aren’t around to navigate. The chief does have his ways in keeping his attention subtle after all. Well…if he wants to, that is. ” He joked with a grin before leading the way.

I was about to follow when Nava suddenly tapped me on the shoulder. I turned myself around to face him with confusion.

“What is it?”

He scratched his head. “Actually, I changed my mind. Now that I think about it, I would say that it would be better if one of us stays behind to both keep Ampharos and Victini company while they are still out. Not to mention holding down the fort as well. And furthermore…” He stopped when his stomach suddenly started to growl, which made him blush. “…hehe well…I…also haven’t even eaten yet, so…I guess I’ll see you two later then.” He added.

I nodded, though a bit sadly. “Well ok, I guess that would be the most responsible thing to do. Well then, I guess I will see you later then.” I responded before waving to him goodbye and quickly dashing after Jirachi.

Catch up with him rather quickly before he could get too far ahead. Say what you want, but I am still feeling a bit out of place personally when wandering around this village all by myself. Which is saying a lot for a person who is normally all about getting as much attention as she possibly could.

But either way it doesn’t matter, as I could already see a large gathering of ponies ahead of us, occupying most of what is known to be the main crossroad of this whole village.

“I would say that THAT is the caravan.” Jirachi stated as we got closer.

I was slightly surprised to say the least. Mostly because of the fact that the caravan as a whole was not just hosting ponies; but in fact, a large portion of creatures I have not yet seen before. Most of them weren’t even ponies to begin with. A large portion of them were actually more of these bird-like quadruples. Gryphons, I think they were called. Or at least that’s what Jirachi managed to figure out by asking a few villagers prior to this. It’s already pretty interesting to see just how diverse these gryphons also looked in comparisons to each other. Similar to these ponies. Sporting completely different colored feathers and furs, and even completely different beaks for some.

Not sure how this is a thing for a species, especially at the sheer variety presented here. But then again, what do I know. Though what I do know is that besides the majority of bird-like natives looking to be part of this caravan, there were also a couple of brand new creatures I have never seen before. Like these tall, hulking bipedal with horns. Certainly, a race I have yet to meet, even though doing so is most likely going to be just as problematic as trying to converse with either the ponies or the gryphons.

I should really ask Jirachi what their species name is after I am done staring at the caravan like a dumb tourist. Well, I kinda am, but that’s besides the point. Especially now that some of the caravan folks have finally noticed us, and their reaction was pretty predictable.

“Well, they seemed to be fairly surprised.” Jirachi casually commented.

“You think?” I responded with a flinch as one of them started to draw a weapon from its holster. It was one of these horned once, and the giant axe he suddenly pulled out wasn’t showing much intended hospitality either. But then again, even if push comes to shove. Jirachi will most likely just use his telekinetic powers to rip the giant weapon away from the equally giant looking native if need to be.

I just hope it wouldn’t have to come to that as our plan here is still building trust and understanding with the natives here. And thankfully, it didn’t, as a couple of village quickly tried to intercept the hulking titan…with…little success as he still pushed through.

This pretty much caused both me and Jirachi to stop on our tracks as we watched this big armored looking bull approach us. I would guess that it is a bull, giving his overall physic and stands. Which was pretty much confirmed when he started to speak in a deep and fairly masculine sounding voice.

Hurray for more gibberish.

“Here, let me handle this.” Jirachi stated as he floated forward.

I nod. “By all means, Jirachi, please do. You ARE the only one capable of interacting with these natives somewhat properly, after all. I have nothing against your offer.” I added while keeping my distance.

To be fair, I was feeling a tad bit intimidated by this super hulking native with an axe. The guy was actually so tall, that he was literally casting a shadow on me from where he stood.

The guy was almost as tall as a Tyranitar. Maybe just a couple of centimeters shorter if not counting the horns. But still pretty tall.

Either way, besides that, the tension was on. Both Jirachi and the axe-wielding titan in front of us were simply staring at each other as this point, while the rest of the village was watching on with baited looks. Even the ponies and gryphons of the caravan where looking at these two silently. The only ones that didn’t looked particularly interested or even nervous of a possible incoming fight were of course, the rest of these tall horned creatures standing at the far back of the of the established wall of carts.

In fact, they looked pretty chilled and even pumped for something to happen by the looks of it. I think they were anticipating a fight, and judging by how long these two have been glaring off to one another, I am slowly starting to feel that this possibility might be true.

I was getting nervous to say the least. Especially when I haven’t seen Jirachi eyes glow even once this entire time.

Imagine my surprise and utter dumbfoundedness when the big hulking dude suddenly started to laugh and throwing his axe away. Quite literally in fact, and very close at my direction, too, which caused me to slightly go pale when the razor sharp killing tool just casually sailed past me and imbedded itself into a house wall behind me.

He then started to embrace Jirachi which he of course returned.

“Wha…what?” I asked, completely confused.

Jirachi smiled. “Oh nothing much, just that I mentally told him that I am going to buy off ANY map and astrology equipment that he might have with gold bars. I guess both money and gold in this world are elevated with a very high value with these natives. A good thing to know to, as I am practically loaded with the stuff.” He stated after the two finally departed from their embrace.

I just continued to stare. “Uh huh…good to know that you are suddenly into the concept of bribing your way through this, like how a lot of crooks tend to do.” I commented while crossing my arms.

“Hey, I like to call it, ‘investing into good and peaceful relationships.’ And besides, we kinda need these maps. Not to mention giving me access to its stars as well with all the astrology-based equipment he might have. I can’t wait to finally start charting the stars tonight.” He announced with a gleeful smile, doing a little loop-the-loop afterwards.

With that, Jirachi wasted no time as he short teleported his way over to the closest caravan stall much to everyone’s shock. The few ponies and gryphons closest to him even jumped and yelped out of the way with some of them trying to reach for their weapons out of instinct.

Jirachi of course didn’t seem to care, as he was more focused on the large display of usual looking craftsmanship and art being offered at one of the wagons.

I on the other hand just shrugged. Making my way to the closest cart as well and casually staring over a few glass panels in display. What I saw in some of them was pretty interesting if I had to be honest. All of them containing what looks like very well-crafted jewelry or accessories for these natives to wear, all made of gold and silver respectively, and certainly something valuable or expensive if the thick-looking glass cases were anything to go by.

Well, not expensive for Jirachi of course if he is going to really stay true to his gold rush.

Though besides that, one very out-of-place item on this stall was eventually catching my eye. Not because of its out-of-place shape, but…well ok it’s mainly because of its out-of-place shape in this sea of well-crafted jewelry and well-polished gemstones.

It was a pink stone. Just a stone. No glitter, no glimmer, no shine, no nothing on it. Just a rather smooth and pink colored stone. Why something as simple, strange and out of place looking as this stone was being displayed in a stall filled with nothing but jewelry is quite curious to say the least. Especially when you consider that it was also incased it its own glass made display as the rest of the stuff here.

I wonder what makes this pebble so special.

“Hey, Jirachi.” I called out, getting his attention.

“Yeah, what is it Glade?” He responded after once again handing a large sack of gold coins to a pony, said pony seeming to be the map vendor of this gang, judging by his assortment of scrolls, and other paper-based work. Actually, this gave me an idea, but I wanted to first show Jirachi this rock before making anything else clear.

Let’s not confuse ourselves here with every member of the caravan watching us. Especially for…obvious reasons.

I pointed at the strangely colored rock after he floated his way towards me.

“That rock over there. Don’t you think it looks rather strange? Especially alongside all the jewelry being sold here?” I asked, looking at the rock again.

Jirachi tilted his head. “Well, yeah, this rock does seem rather out-of-place doesn’t it? The rather unnatural color of it is enough of an oddity as it is. I don’t even know any gemstones or minerals that are this pink naturally.” He commented, rubbing his chin in thought as he floated closer to it.

“You know what. I’m going to buy it.” Jirachi suddenly stated.

“Wait, really?” I asked while looking up at him. “It could also be just a rock you know. Maybe just painted pink, even?” I argued, to which he shook his head.

“Doubt it. I mean, I may not be a geologist, that would normally be Mawile’s thing. But I did read a couple of books regarding geology a few years back and practice this knowledge during a few expeditions I took part in, so I can say that I have at least some form of foresight to tell if the rock’s coloration is real or not from the surface. And it kinda is on first-glance. Its looks…too good to be painted on, and too…rough and detailed as well.” Jirachi explained as he peered his head closer to the display case where the rock was sitting.

I was confused, but I at least accepted his words for what they were. He is a genius, after all, not just in words but more importantly in craft, too. Being the only one within the expedition society who has an understanding of both astrology and technology.

He eventually turned his attention to the one hulking titan from before and waved the guy over to us. The big guy came over, which allowed Jirachi to point at the rock inside the display case and most likely ask him about it telepathically.

I am not sure when or how, but I could have sworn that his eyes usually start glowing ever so slightly whenever he is engaging with someone telepathically. Maybe it doesn’t work here? But then again, this notion couldn’t possibly be true either, because I have seen his eye take on an ethereal glow when he first conversed with the natives that tried to ambush us at the beginning.

Maybe it could be because of the level of light? Back inside the woods, the overall atmosphere and mood was fairly muddy in term of lighting, while out here it’s pretty much as bright as can be thanks to the cloudless sky and screaming sun up above.

Maybe I’m just thinking too much about it? That’s certainly a silly thing to focus on. Especially when Jirachi suddenly pulled out another sack of PokéBucks from his bag and gave it to the big guy.

With that, the big dude simply smiled before pulling out a key from one of his many pouches attached to his armor and unlocking the glass case with it, retrieving the strangely colored rock out of its housing before presenting it to Jirachi.

Another oddity I’m feeling here is just how easily this guy seems to take the fact that Jirachi is talking to him inside his head. Another thing that just makes me curious.

“Here, see, a natural pink rock. Well…as natural as a pink rock could possibly be, that is.” Jirachi stated, before showing the unusually-colored rock he probably paid too much for.

I gave it a closer look. Seeing nothing much out of the ordinary, as I have very little knowledge when it comes to rocks or anything else earthbound.

“Okay, but why did you suddenly decided to buy this in the first place? And furthermore, why was this rock in the display case to begin with, besides just being pink?” I asked, before taking the rock out of Jirachi’s hands and feeling its texture.

I was immediately surprised. The rock was surprisingly warm to the touch. Like really so. Normal looking pink rock my tail, I know for a fact that rocks normally don’t do that, even those from volcanic origins. Those volcanic stones usually cool down pretty quickly after having left its point of origin.

Jirachi on the other hand seemed to agree with my surprise as he hummed.

“Well yeah, now you see that this rock is certainly without its mysteries. The big Minotaur guy, which is what their race is called by the way, actually informed me that he once found this rock in a desert. He just casually took this stone from an old buried altar next to an Oasis, and also personally commented on the strange color and warmth it radiated. So out of interest, and a little bit of a business incentive, he simply took the stone with him. Marking it as a type of “luxury good” as well thanks to its unnatural color and unique touch, which is why it was next to all the jewelry and gemstones respectively. Hoping to find someone who might be interested in it, which of course happened with us.” He lengthily explained, causing me to nod a few times along his long response before looking back down at the lukewarm stone cupped inside my hands.

This little story about a buried altar where the stone was found was enough to really spark my interest in seeing more of this new world for myself. Being a member of the expeditions society, it is our duty to explore the mysteries of the world and make new and never-before-seen discoveries for all, even if it’s on a completely different world.

Speaking of different worlds, that reminded me.

“Hey Jirachi, could you maybe also ask the guy from whom you bought the maps from if he maybe has any informative scrolls or books on him as well? Something like that could be very useful for us, especially when we give it to Mawile so that she can also work on a possibly translation of their language.” I suggested.

Jirachi hummed. “Well sure, no problem. I can easily do that.” He responded before floating off towards the wagon he was previously at.

After a few moments, Jirachi quickly returned with a couple of old looking books and scrolls floating next to him. He smiled, before handing the pile of tomes and scrolls to me without even giving me a warning.

Thank the heavens for my good reflexes, or maybe not as I quickly found out how heavy this stuff was. My legs and arms almost buckled at the sudden increase of weight.

“Once more, better get all of this stuff back with the chief and Victini down in the cellar for safe keeping. You go ahead with that though, I am going to pick up my promised astrology gear and follow you shortly. I won’t take too long, I promise.” He explained before swiftly floating off somewhere and leaving me with most of the heavy burden to carry back to base.

Talk about getting ditched with a lot of responsibility. But then again, this was MY idea to begin with. But that still doesn’t excuse the fact that this crap was really heavy, and quite wobbly to start. I am not sure how valuable and old these tomes are, but judging by the weathering they have on their covers, I would guess that they are pretty old, which in turn would make them very valuable for those with an eye for literature and knowledge. Basically: Mawile, Jirachi, and Ampharos to some extent, AND judging by the damp mud all around me I would say dropping these onto the ground would be a massive problem. Especially given Jirachi’s nature of overpaying things here.

“Jirachi please…can you…can you maybe…” I tried to say in-between my strained breath while keeping both my balance and hold of this tower above me.

The wind blowing from behind me wasn’t exactly helping with that either. If this is going to keep up, then I’ll surely drop all of these ancient-looking tomes and ruin them for pretty much everyone.

“Here, let me help you with that.” Victini’s voice suddenly rang out before a large portion of the weight resting on my arms suddenly disappeared, giving me a bit of a respite.

I turned my head. “Oh, hey Victini…uhm…aren’t you supposed to be in bed to get some rest?” I asked, feeling a little sense of worry for this Pokémon’s health.

Victini nodded. “Yeah, but don’t worry, I’m fine now. Even so, I was planning to return to our world today, as there is something very important I have to check on. Plus…” He trailed off a bit in thought. “…I wanted to talk with Pericles about something. Something regarding our past and what-not.” He explained.

I was curious about this, but still nodded. To be fair, returning momentarily back to our world might not be such a bad idea to begin with. At least it would give us the chance to get the rest of the gang on board with this and to also give these books and tomes to Mawile so that she can study them.

Plus, I am personally wondering if Espurr might wants to come along, too. It's still quite surreal to think that she asked to be Jirachi’s student and assistant at the Expedition Society HQ.

Well, then again, she really had nothing better to do after the whole Dark Matter debacle was beaten and done for. Being without a real family or parents and all. Kinda sad when you think about it.

“Anyway, where the heck is Jirach…oh…” He stopped, looked over at the direction where Jirachi most likely was. I followed his gaze and was equally perplexed at what I saw coming at us.

Like literally, it was something, something fairly big in fact.

“Watch out, big telescope coming through!” I heard Jirachi voice say behind the BIG telescope floating in front of him as he came over to join us. A few ponies close by where staring at the spectacle as well with curious or dumbfounded eyes.

“So…this is the telescope you were looking for? Isn’t it a bit too big for your size?” Victini asked while tilting his head.

“No, but is was pretty much the only one they had back in one of their wagons. The guy said that some old wizard sold it to him after he had to abandon his so-called ‘Wizard Tower’ or whatever. Said something about a Unicorn Queen having sent out a detention order to arrest him or whatever…sorry, but I was too busy staring at this beauty the whole time to really pay any attention to what the guy had to say about how he got it. I just…I was just entranced by this beauty over here.” He explained while caressing the mid-section of the telescope at the end…rather strangely.

“Jirachi, we have kids, here you know.” Victini suddenly stated with a frown.

Jirachi stopped before laughing awkwardly. “Oh yeah…you’re right, uh…sorry. I…I just like to blame some of the dreams I’ve been having lately. Yeah, nothing too strange at all.” He smiled before looking at all the extra stuff levitating behind him.

“Hmm…well yeah we better head back down into the cellar to deposit all of this stuff for the time being and setup my new portable telescope for tonight. I’ll have a lot of star gazing to do once the sun finally sinks into the horizon, which is why I am planning to hit the hay as early as possible when we get back so that I can stay up all night to do what I do best: star gazing.” He openly announced with a lot of hype in his voice, which I couldn’t help but smile at.

Though Victini again didn’t seem to be too enthusiastic, as he just rose an eyebrow at him. If he had any.

“Your new portable telescope?” He asked before looking up and down its brass length. “Are you sure this thing is made to be portable? It even seems to be a bit to large for these ponies.” He stated while nudging his head at the closest pony to us.

Jirachi shrugged. “Hey, size doesn’t matter if you have as big of a passion as I have when it comes to doing my job. Also, you seem to forget that I can just levitate this thing easily wherever I go. So for me, it truly is portable, certainly a lot more portable then the huge dome mounted telescope I have back at HQ.” He answered, before finally hovering0 past us with all of his stuff following.

“Well, whatever you say. But I still have a feeling that you have no idea how to handle money, even if you have a crap ton of it.” Victini added before following him. “Come on, Glade, let’s get this stuff back with the rest. Then, after that, I need to make them collect the necessary psychic energy to re-open the portal back in the forest to reconnect with the Void Orb on the other side.” He stated.

I just looked around myself for a moment before shrugging. “I wonder when I’ll finally get the chance to explore this place closer instead of just wandering around aimlessly? I hope that after the little trip back home it’s going to be a lot easier to do that.” I muttered before following the two mythic Pokémon back to our temporary hold out.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, that re-opening of the portal is going to set something in motion that none of us could have possible predicted.

Mystery Dungeons: Through Realms and worlds

by Navanastra

Chapter 1: A portal through water

Chapter 2: The start of a new Adventure

Chapter 3: Getting things into Motion

Chapter 4: A first look at the Natives

Chapter 5: Well hello there

Chapter 6: From local Zero to Hero

Chapter 7: Broader Expansion of Events

Chapter 8: The emergency of a past