Despite my fears over the bandits figuring out about our presence on Firespit, the night went by uneventfully. Under the watchful but distant eye of Irida and her Glaceon over on the other side of the shore, we used our Pokémon to cook some sort of salty seafood meal and enjoyed it together as a group. We were quite harmonious, actually. Bibi was there to wash the salt water off of Iscan’s pots and pans. He also cleaned the suspiciously-Magikarp looking meat and supplied us with clean water for cooking, which was done by Magmar’s continuous flames aided by Braviary, who surprisingly worked rather well with Edith, to produce a strengthening flow of wind to stoke their fire. As we filled our bellies and quietly spoke amongst each other, Palina portioned out a small bowl of our leftover meal and stood with a conflicted expression. “I’d better offer Irida some.”

“Lina…” Iscan seemed dead against it. “I- I think she’d be better off… alone.”

I expected Palina to react defensively to that, but she instead softened. “I… I suppose I feel a touch of guilt. I haven’t noticed her eat anything yet.”

“But…”

Palina nodded before Iscan could finish. “But she mistreats you and would like nothing more than to see us separated. I do recall. Maybe, she’s best alone. You’re right, Iscan.”

I, at that point, volunteered myself to go. I wanted to ask Irida a couple of things, anyways, and also wanted some time alone with Golett. Doing so, as much as I felt a surge of anxiety at the prospect of approaching the Pearl Clan leader alone, would let me do both.

And so, with a bowl of lukewarm seafood cupped between my palms, I had Golett regretfully extricate itself from the fawning Magmar and follow me over to Irida. “You seem fond of them, don’t you?” I asked it as we walked.

Golett stared down at me as if it was unsure of how to react, but kept up its pace. It barely felt like time had passed since I had to actively slow down to allow it to keep up. Now, however, it felt like Golett was intentionally slowing down for me. “This is a nod,” I stopped and demonstrated with slow movements of my head. “It means ‘yes’.”

Golett remained still.

“And this,” I shook my head in the same slow and controlled manner. “Means ‘no’.”

With a slight grinding noise, Golett mimicked my movement. First, a slow and mechanical nod. And then, a slightly robotic shake of the head. “Good,” I smiled up at it. “That’s good!”

We continued off towards Irida who watched our approach with a stern but wary crease in her brows. I half-expected Glaceon to glower and snarl at us as we drew close, but the horrible little thing remained curled up underneath Irida’s curved legs.

My breath frosted in front of my face as I opened my mouth to speak. I had taken off my snow-cap almost immediately after meeting Magmar and their Magby, but now wished I’d brought it with me. “We have some food for you, if you’re hungry.”

“Sure,” Irida’s words were measured and almost emotionless as she took the bowl off of me. She didn’t immediately start eating, however, and instead peered into it as if suspecting it were poisoned.

I stared for a moment. Irida had claimed to be back when she’d dropped me on Spring Path that she felt no pain, but her outburst to Palina had contradicted that. “You told me you don’t feel pain, but just said you’re bothered by the heat.”

Irida let out a low snort and a haughty expression slid across her face. “I don’t feel pain from anything but heat. Are you happy now?”

That last question was laced with venom, but I was too pleased to care. Finally, a weakness! Something I could potentially latch onto. But I had no fire types on me, nor any fire moves… unless I used all of those Magmar?

“I’m…” I hesitated at confessing my feelings on the matter, but wanted to at least let myself feel better about tonight. “I’m worried about those bandits finding us while we sleep.”

Irida didn’t look at me. “What did Li - Palina say about that?”

“She said it’s too hot to survive much more than a day even near where Arcanine lives and that they’re probably hiding in a cave under the volcano.”

A frown. I was annoying her. “Then that’s where they’ll be all night.”

Alright, then. “I can’t face Arcanine alone. And I don’t even know if I can quell it, like with Lilligant. I know you don’t care about me, but sending me to my death is pointless.”

Irida finally turned a cold stare towards me. “It’s a good thing I’ll be going with you, then.”

As much as I disliked Irida, I had to admit I felt an embarrassing amount of relief knowing she would be around to fight if things went south. “But I thought you couldn’t go anywhere hot?”

“Why is it so cold, here, do you wander?” Irida’s voice was laden with sarcasm. “It’s almost as if Glaceon can protect me from the heat.”

So Glaceon could shield Irida even from a volcano’s worth of heat? There goes any plan of amassing Magmar to assail her all at once. It seemed to me that Irida’s Glaceon was the real problem- not her. Separate Irida from her Pokémon and she’s as vulnerable as any old human. At least I hoped.

But all that thinking brought another point to my mind. “Won’t the bandits have an ice-type to shield them from the heat, too? Then they could roam the volcano and find us.”

Irida actually seemed to consider this, to my surprise. “It’d have to be quite powerful. But that won’t be a problem.”

“Why?”

An almost evil-looking grin slowly quirked up her lips. “Because I’d enjoy it if they came out to look for us. In fact, I dare those lowlifes to ambush us at night. Saves me the trouble of hunting them down myself among all that lava.”

Right… if Irida’s solution to anything was to just brute force her way through, then it’s no wonder she started the war between the clans. “Okay, then.” I decided I had little left to talk about. “I’ll go now.”

“Please do.”

Half way back to Palina, Iscan, and the orange glow of Magby and Magmar, I stopped Golett and flat out asked him the long-overdue question. “Would you like a name?”

Golett turned its spotlight-beam eyes onto me and I flinched back at the sudden brightness. It didn’t make any moves to acknowledge me, however. “You know…” I elaborated in a bit of an unsure tone. “Like how Bibarel’s named Bibi or Staravia’s named Edith… Hisoko the Kirlia…”

Golett finally responded with a slow but stiff nod.

“Yeah?” I felt a twinge of surprise at that. I had figured Golett was content to go off of its species name. “What name do you want?”

With a slight groan, Golett knelt onto one knee and drew in the sand.

RILEY.

I frowned down at it. Within the darkness, I could’ve convinced myself I wasn’t seeing it right, but Golett’s illumination made it clear as day. “That’s your master’s name…”

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Golett nodded.

“I was asking about what you want to be called…”

With a jagged dragging motion of its finger, Golett underlined RILEY.

“You want to be called Riley?” I asked with raised brows.

A nod.

“To… commemorate him, or something? Or to pay tribute?”

Golett wiped away Riley’s name and wrote out another word. YES.

How strange. In my history lessons, man-made Pokémon were always made out to be expressionless and utterly incapable of sentience. Yet, although Golett displayed a man-made intelligence that could’ve feigned sentience, it clearly felt things that revealed true sentience. “Okay, then…” I said softly. “Riley it is, then. I guess you’ll be a he from now on.”

Golett- or Riley- placed a hand on his chest. For a second, he simply remained still. Motionless, like a kneeling knight mourning a fallen comrade. Then, he wiped at the sand and wrote out more in the sand.

GRATEFUL.

“Aww,” I wrapped my entire arm around his. “You’re a big softie, you know that?”

Riley nodded.

“Just… come to me for anything you need, okay?” I tried to stare into Riley’s eyes, but their brightness made it hard. “You’re always so… immovable, that it feels like you’re the one looking after me. But we’re friends and I’m here for you. Like I’m there for Bibi and Edith and Hisoko.”

Riley seemed to take in my words for a minute before writing something in the sand.

I FEAR.

Worry blossomed within my chest. “Fear what?”

GROWING STRONGER.

With how many Golurk were running around Unova right now, at least according to the villagers in Jubilife, I found it likely Riley encountered a few on the way to Unova’s shores. Maybe it was even a Golurk that killed his master. I couldn’t help but feel it was an impossible fear to have. Golett and Golurk weren’t meant to think. They were meant to fight and to perish at the hands of the two Legendaries. But Riley’s master had clearly built him differently to others and, in his shoes, I would likely hold the same fear myself. “Golurk don’t hurt people because they are strong. They hurt people because they’re designed and told to and they do so because they can only follow orders. You’re not designed that way, Riley… you’re so much better than that.”

It took a moment, but Riley eventually straightened and I took it as a sign to get going. It was so difficult to tell what he was thinking underneath that clay body of his, but I hoped my words helped soothe his concerns. I did mentally slap myself for bringing up the fact that he was designed instead of born. If I were a clay construct struggling with sentience? A reminder of my unnatural origins probably would’ve blown.

We got back to Palina and Iscan and eventually settled down for sleep. I wanted to ask the pair about any possible plans for getting me out of there, but Braviary’s presence made that difficult. I doubted she could’ve directly told Irida of what we spoke of, but I wouldn’t put it past the two to have some sort of warning gesture agreed upon that would clue the Pearl Clan leader in on possible goings on. I remained silent, therefore…

The next morning, we set off into the stony confines of Firespit Island’s volcano.

It was Palina, Iscan, Growlithe, and I walking together with Irida and her Glaceon skulking behind us. It was ridiculously hot and we soon started to come across plateaus of volcanic rock filled with lava pools that streamed and dribbled across the natural pathway we were following. I was sweating heavily. My breath felt like it was burning its way up and down my throat and my Survey Corps issued shoes were slowly melting off onto the blistering rocks.

But even as hot as it was, I still felt a cooling sensation follow close behind me from Glaceon. The ice type didn’t look particularly happy about it, but it was perched atop of Irida’s shoulder and was doing a mighty job at fending off the soaring temperatures. I almost wanted to stray towards them for shelter.

A brave Magmar lead the way, but the rest were too scared to even look towards Arcanine’s lair let alone approach it. Even without its help, though, we’d have been fine. Palina knew the way and apparently the path naturally curved towards the Molten Arena, anyways.

My biggest fear right now was ambush. But Growlithe could supposedly smell out his friend and wasn’t reacting much at all, so that allayed my fears somewhat. Still… were those bandits watching us? Waiting for us to stumble into their trap? The paranoia was eating at me. The lack of sleep last night barely helped, either.

The noises were as abundant as the heat, too. Bubbling lava formed the vocals to a burning musical as if the entire island was on fire despite the lack of flames. The cold air surrounding Irida was constantly hissing and steaming away as the volcanic heat melted the flaky ice wafting around the blonde Pearl Clan leader. But there was something else we could hear as we drew further into the island. Something that would send Palina into a deep cringe and our accompanying Magmar into a stress-induced freeze.

A distinct and noble Arcanine’s roar tinged with pain and suffering. It was scratchy and almost mournful as if he had somehow damaged his vocal cords, but still echoed loud across the lava nonetheless. “Oh, Arcanine,” Palina’s face twisted in anguish.

“There it- it is!” Iscan pointed out a circular arena-shaped basin of rock and lava just ahead of us as the pathway curved towards our left. There were two stone scaffoldings holding up a marble slab with Arcanine’s figure engraved into the rock. Carvings reminiscent of some sort of Axew looking thing sat atop each stone slat where endlessly burning metal lanterns hung listlessly in the dead air.

A cracked and weathered stone pedestal partially blocked our view, but Arcanine was so large we could all see him just fine behind it. The Noble Pokémon was shaking his head around and blowing hot gusts of air from his nose while he encircled a particularly strange formation of stones someone had strewn dead-centre in the middle of his lair. I watched as Arcanine’s giant paws stepped into the surrounding lava like it was nothing and saw the air shimmering wildly around its red and black fur.

He was… different, to the Arcanine I’ve ever seen in the present. Billowing manes of smoke-coloured fur stood proud and stiff around his mask-like eyes, culminating downwards into a blooming flower pattern across his neck. He had a similarly coloured tail that followed behind him like a smoke trail would a moving fire which was kept company by the same set-up behind his back paws. He was huge, to say the least. About two-thirds of the height I’d expect Golurk to reach up to. Four, maybe four and a half, metres heigh and that was on all fours. To say I was intimidated would’ve been an understatement, but I couldn’t deny there was a certain majesty to his countenance. Somehow, even the violently bright light cloaked around his body added to his noble prestige. “He’s definitely frenzied,” I remarked in a whisper, terrified Arcanine’s kite-shaped ears could hear me over the roar of the volcano.

“But those bandits are somehow able to control him,” Palina whispered back with more than a touch of despair in her voice. “How…?”

“Where are those three harlots?” Irida hissed from behind us. “I need to teach them what happens to those who dare cross the Pearl Clan.”

Harlots? “You do know what that means…?” I shot Irida a surprised glance.

“E-even if they were around… I think you’d need to, you know, fight Arcanine to get to them.” Iscan said.

“I won’t let that happen, Irida,” Palina turned away from her Noble to meet Irida’s eyes. “Not after what you did with Kleavor.”

“As if Arcanine would fall as easily as Kleavor,” Irida retorted with a slight huff, but her eyes silently told us she would listen to Palina’s demand.

“See the cave?” Palina pointed out somewhere towards the left of Arcanine’s lair, where the volcano stood tall and narrow. There was a banner blocking my way, so I couldn’t locate it, and the slightly perplexed look in both Iscan and Irida’s faces told me they weren’t able to see it, either. “That’s where I believe those bandits would hide. It’s the only place within Firespit Volcano which contains cool enough air to survive in. The only issue is that it’s surrounded by a river of lava- a moat, of sorts.”

“They either have a strong water type or a very powerful ice type,” Irida commented seemingly to herself. Then… “Well? Do your thing, Rei.”

I shot her an odd look. “Me?”

“You were Cyllene’s best hope to quell the Diamond Clan’s Nobles,” she said in a dry tone. “So… tell us how to quell our Noble.”

“I told you,” I whispered intently, feeling my heart lurch at the confrontation. “I don’t know anymore. What you did with Kleavor was what we did with Lilligant. I have no idea why Kleavor wasn’t quelled.”

“Still playing that game?” Irida cocked her head- eyes glinting dangerously. “Well. Let’s call over Arcanine and force your hand, yes? Don’t worry, I’ll only let him burn around half of your body before bailing you out.”

My jaw dropped in horror, but Palina spoke up for me. “Absolutely not!” she threw Irida such a scandalised look that I could feel the venom fling from her narrowed eyes. “As long as I draw breath, Arcanine will not hurt anyone else.”

“So, what do you suggest we do?” Irida turned her ire onto Palina.

“I… think we should look for those women,” Iscan spoke up in a meek whisper, but it managed to capture both Palina and Irida’s attention. “If they were able to somehow control Arcanine, then… then I- I bet getting them to tell us would be useful for us to, you know, bring him back.”

I blinked, impressed. That actually made a lot of sense. Irida seemed quite pleased, too. A sly grin spread across her once pressed lips. “That sounds like a great idea. Once we find them. I’ll make them spill after I freeze off a limb or two.”

Palina sighed, but spoke no objection. “I’m on the verge of passing out from this heat and we’ll get nowhere with Arcanine in this state. Let’s return to camp and form a plan. Then, we’ll return at night when the temperature is lower and Arcanine would hopefully be asleep to investigate the Lava Dome Sanctum.”

We all agreed and turned to head back. I was annoyed at the prospect of having to make such an perilous journey again, but was grateful Palina had bought me some time to figure something out. “Come on, Growlithe!” Palina lightly called to her little one, who mournfully gazed at Arcanine’s agitated pacing one last time before turning to walk with us.