What bothered me the most though was that his aura showed clear signs of shadow corruption to a high degree. Even more concerning was that it was clear that the corruption had also begun to effect outside of the mans body which was where the supernatural aspects of his appearance were coming from. Thankfully any aura user could tell that he was not one himself despite this so he was definitely not the source of the shadow pokemon, merely that he possessed and had regular contact with one or more.-

Despite this however I made no move to get in the mans way as he left as much like I had told Wes I was here to relax and take a small break from this sort of thing. Besides Rui and Wes were clearly going to be making a nuisance of themselves as far as the way they looked at the man showed. Wes was also smart enough to realize that he was much weaker than whoever this person was and didn't jump the gun which was a good sign that my time in Orre was going to be interesting.-

After those two had a chat with the mayor of the town I waited for them at the entrance of the town with Rune and Tank out of their balls. I drew attention like this but I didn't mind since Orre's rules were a bit different than the leagues in that I couldn't have my larger pokemon out near the city. Here besides curiosity and awe nobody really cared so long as Rune or Tank didn't destroy anything. If anything I was treated much like a celebrity which was reasonable considering variant pokemon must seem like the stuff of myth in this region.-

Besides the people who came from other regions all the pokemon here were either obtained through eggs of pokemon that others here had bred or by importing them from other regions. Without any natural populations of pokemon here or large numbers of the same sort of pokemon the chance of a variant showing up were abysmal. So even though nobody could see Hades which was both a variant and a legendary I clearly had two variant pokemon in the form of Rune and Tank and that was news worthy at the very least. It was rather funny to see Wes's eyes bug out in shock at my two pokemon when he and Rui showed up at the entrance.-

I sent him my contact details and the location of my new home before mounting Rune and flying back to the place. As we approached I was surprised to see that a sandstorm had spawned around it and it became pretty clear when the storm bent around us why. Gaia was flexing her new divinity over the desert and had effectively camouflaged our new home with a sandstorm that was likely to be hard to get through without permission.-

Honestly I was perfectly fine with this too as it would allow us to be left alone by any bothersome elements that wanted to come see what was up with me and my team. The best part though was that I knew for a fact that creating such a large sandstorm and controlling it was like breathing for Gaia. It should be remembered that thanks to her royal variation she had both the sand stream and sand veil innate abilities. Add on that she had mastered the move sandstorm and after gaining her divinity got the ability desert ruler that was the fusion of those two other abilities as well as more she was literally a powerful sandstorm walking at any given moment without any additional effort from her at all.-

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Once we got back to the Hub it was pretty clear where she was as there was a large mound of sand outside the wall that was looking right at us. Rather than a dragon buried in gold she had buried herself in sand which through our bond I could tell was relaxing and comfortable for her. "I've got some people coming to drop off furniture soon as well as some guests in a few days, let them through when they come." I said calmly and she rumbled in acceptance before closing her eyes and sand covered her entirely.-

It was quite the sight really as the Hub was at the eye of the sandstorm so while it was getting sunlight and was unaffected by the roaring flow of sand outside the gate was different. Dim light and sandy winds strong enough to shear flesh from bone dominated that place. Inside the gate I found Vulcan napping in the strong sunlight and Yani tending the gardens that had already begun to sprout despite the short time frame from the vast amount of life energy in the air.-

The little one was napping at the soft sandy bottom of the oasis pool at this time as well. Rune and Tank both went on their own way after we got in the Hub's gate while Hades was perfectly content just chilling in my pocket. I wasn't sure how long it would take for my order to arrive so while I waited I sent a message to Makan asking how much it'd cost me to get a functioning computer so I could log my findings while I investigated this regions unusual properties.-

The old man was quick to answer with a number and even several specs for a computer he could straight up make for me for an upcharge. I must admit that I was quite impressed at them too as they were near top of the line in quality, I'm talking like science grade specs. At the same time though I knew better than to purchase the best option for something like this as I had no intention of becoming a full time pokemon professor or researcher in this region so i didn't need the stuff later.-

Makan seemed disappointed when I chose a middle ground option from his reply but said he'd have my order set up within a day or two and that I'd just need to come get it and pay for it. Honestly i was halfway tempted to drop a small fortune to get the pokenet set up in this region as well just so I could make digital purchases but I was aware that would just be plain wasteful. Also as much as I like the leagues rules and structure this region would get ruined if people started flocking here after I got the internet set up.-

This place was practically the definition of isolated and as a result surprisingly peaceful as there was no history of even a single war of any sort here. The people seemed a bit rough around the edges sure but they all behaved themselves more or less. I admit that I was sort of a hermit by nature as I preferred being in the wilds or alone with my pokemon and this whole region fit that mindset perfectly.