“Felis, you hear what I say?”
“Huh? Oh–yeah, teams of 5, easy.”
“No that’s not–” Hazel sighed, as the armored truck they were in rumbled and bounced upon the rock and dirt. “I’m asking if you’ll be joining us or not.”
“Oh I think I forgot to mention,” Sirius said, saving his brother from the conversation, “We’ll be travelling with Cyrus and the scientists within the ruins, so don’t worry about us.”
Felis tuned the conversation back out, his mind instead focused on the information he’d been toying with the last day. Earth. This was Earth. What did that mean? He came up with two plausible answers, though that didn’t really mean much considering how batshit crazy their life currently was.
Theory 1: Parallel world. Easy enough to explain with modern literature. You die, you reincarnate into a different world, you get cool powers, etcetera etcetera you rule the world. That was the assumption he’d had going into this, it was familiar, it was recognizable.
It didn’t really explain anything…but then again, did reincarnation stories ever explain that sort of stuff?
Theory 2 changed things. What if it wasn’t a parallel world, but rather, Earth, far, far, far into the future. But did that make sense? How did the people of his time predict the future? Was Satoshi Tajiri, the original creator of Pokémon, some sort of time traveller?
Theory 2 however, also meant time travel was possible. And what did that mean? His parents, his sisters, his friends, he could bring them back, couldn’t he? He could bring them all back. After all, was Dialga not the master of time?
But how could he prove which theory was the correct one? He wanted to talk to Arun but he’d spent the rest of the day with Hazel’s crew, not that he had a bad time per se, but that this was definitely a lot more important. And then before he could talk to Arun the next morning, no name Grunts were telling him to suit up for a mission.
Arun explained that he was able to land them both in the same team, which was a relief for sure, but now here he was, sitting in an armored truck, no privacy to talk to his brother about the things he’d learned and the things he wanted to talk about.
So there he was, stuck, unable to do the one thing liked doing–talking about his ideas.
“You guys receive any details of the assignment?” Felis asked, rejoining the conversation to take his mind off the roadblock in his thoughts.
“Other than we’d be clearing out some wild Pokémon, and providing security, nothing much.” Jaxon sighed, leaning into his sister’s shoulder as he tried to get comfortable.
“Oi. Off.” Elys demanded, though Felis noticed she didn’t make any move to push him away.
“Hey,” Hazel said, looking at the two brothers, “How come the boss is so interested in you two?”
Felis could feel the eyes of everyone shift onto the two of them. Sirius gave him a look that said, “Should I answer, or are you taking it?”
“All me.” He signalled back with a slight nod, leaning forward to speak, “Our father had his hand in a lot of things, and part of that allowed the two of us to research a lot about Pokémon legends.”
If they were being fact checked right now, the answer he gave was so open-ended it would be impossible to come up as a lie. Sure, they researched the legendries a lot…if you could consider playing video games a form of research.
Which it was obviously..
“But how does–what was your region called again?”
“Canada.”
Why did “Canada” sound so stupid to say out loud?
“Right. How does Canada have so much access to Sinnoh’s religion?”
Felis made sure his blink of surprise was visible, “What do you mean? They’re recognized worldwide, aren’t they?”
“True.” Hazel agreed, “But usually Regions have a “main” deity that they place above others.”
“Don’t really have that.” Sirius cut in, shrugging, “They’re all known to us.”
“Hum.”
Sirius shot Felis a look, the “We gotta talk about this” look. Before he could say anything however Ems spoke up, “Hey! So I heard you went up against class 3 Pokémon on your own, is that true?”
And just like that, everyone’s attention turned away from their suspicious origins, Jaxon and Elys also egging Sirius to tell his tale of bravery and woe.
“I-uh-huh?” Sirius stammered at the sudden shift in conversation, “I mean I wasn’t alone–I had Quinn with me.”
Felis raised an eyebrow at Arun’s sudden nervousness. Did his dear older brother…get stage fright? Oh well this just wouldn’t do. He’d have to fix that of course, but how?
Exposure therapy of course!
“Oh come on, don’t be humble man!” Felis said loudly, “Quinn told me all about how you went hand-to-hand with 4 different guys and won!”
“Oh you asshole.” The look Sirius shot him seemed to rage. Though it quickly turned into fear as 4 different people cheered for a story.
Felis settled into his seat, letting out a content sigh.
This would be a good ride.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They stopped off at Solaceon town, Sirius knew the area well from his playthroughs. It was the town with the Daycare center, a place he’d stopped going to after his first or second run of Platinum. As a kid, he’d been obsessed with trying to make as many shiny Pokémon as he could…
“Ah…poor ditto.” He lamented, as his brother and his acquaintances hopped out the back of the truck. Stepping outside Sirius took a deep breath of the mountain air, letting out a content sigh. Opening his eyes and taking in the surroundings, he couldn’t help but just pause and…and…
“Woah.” He breathed, as a gentle rush of cool wind washed over him.
Solaceon was beautiful. Not the chaotic beauty of Veilstone, with its arts and music displayed on every corner, no, this was a gentle beauty. Under a bright blue sky the town was built on a slight incline, Sirius could see from the top of the town to the bottom, its soft grass rolling in waves, flowers of white and gold dotting the roads and houses as children and Pokémon alike enjoyed a beautiful day.
“Holy shit.” He heard Pranav whisper, “It’s gorgeous.”
“Alright! Get to work!” The sound of their leader, some guy named Remi, snapped the two out of their daze, “Big boss wants the supplies as soon as possible, and he trusted me to deliver them, so let’s go! ASAP! ASAP!”
“Prick.” Felis mumbled, loud enough that the others snickered.
Sirius said nothing, keeping himself between his brother and Hazel. The man was asking too many questions, plain and simple. Sirius was all for his brother making new friends, hell, he was glad Hazel and his group had reached out in the first place, but why the digging? Why were they so curious? Questions meant lies, and lies meant they were in more danger of being outed. Even now Sirius was mentally going over the story his brother had crafted an hour ago, making sure to memorize every bit and detail. But even then there were still questions that burned through his mind.
Was Hazel a threat?
Did he need to be removed?
“Alright…” Felis said, reaching down to one of the boxes, “one…two…hrk-ohshit!”
Sirius caught the box before it could crush his brother’s weak toes, “Go grab something light,” He sighed.
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“Man, how the hell am I still so weak?”
“‘Cause you barely eat shit, despite me telling you to keep eating.”
“I get full in like two bites man, not my fault. Hold on lemme try this one–man what the fuck is even in this!?.”
“I got it.” Emily laughed, plucking a second box from Felis’s arms.
Sirius raised an eyebrow at his brother.
“Aight yeah maybe I gotta eat more.”
In the end Felis was regulated to just carrying a suitcase that carried the spare Pokémon for some of the veteran trainers. A good thing for that, as trekking through the forest to the east of Solaceon proved to be difficult–even for him. More than once they’d all required a break, much to the anger of Remi.
“Come on–it’s been 5 minutes already!” The man demanded, “We need to go ASAP! ASAP!”
Sirius sighed, staring up at the foliage to calm himself down. Remi was the “Roadblock” type of manager that Pranav always warned him about. Always kissing up and kicking down, they didn’t really do anything aside from yell orders and take credit. What annoyed Sirius the most was his constant use of “ASAP.” For some reason he’d try tacking it onto every sentence, like a child discovering a big word for the first time.
“Heh.” Sirius chuckled to himself, “Bet Pranav’s pissed he’s gotta deal with these sorta people again.” A glance at his little brother confirmed his suspicions. If looks could kill…well, he doubted Remi would be making orders if that were the case.
“Let’s go! ASAP! Come on!”
So onwards they went, oh and of course, the only person not carrying anything was Remi.
Aside from their manager, the journey wasn’t so bad. Supposedly most Pokémon left this area alone, though the ones that did were stronger than usual, so their Pokémon were out and about, making the whole journey a strange procession.
It was the first time Sirius had seen the variety of Pokémon before, and it took everything he had not to start gushing over just how cute a Skorupi could look. At the moment Valor was taking his duty seriously as a guard, settled atop Cacnea as the two chittered about whatever Pokémon made small talk about. Supposedly Hazel had a Duskull, but at the moment he’d chosen to have a Snowrunt, the little thing shivering and sticking close to its trainer’s legs.
It was an hour of walking before they found their destination.
The Solaceon Ruins did not look the way they were portrayed in the games. It was more than just a cave on the side of a mountain. Now he could actually see broken pillars and an actual doorway frame the front of the mountain. The Grunts that had come before them were still hard at work, clearing away dust and debris with diligence as their crew hefted their supplies into camp.
“Alright that’s it!” Remi called, settling down at the front of the camp, “Leave it here–you! Jaxon! Go talk to PoR, get some Taurus to carry them in, ASAP!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Jaxon grumbled, walking off to one of the larger tents marked with a massive Powerball, his Skorupi trundling along diligently beside him.
“Rest of you, with me. We’re to report to the boss first.”
Despite Remi trying to keep them in a “professional” formation, the group (Mostly Pranav) seemed to drift apart into a more casual line, eventually causing the man to give up as they continued walking through the entrance of the ancient temple.
“What do you think?” His brother asked, grinning at him as they looked about the scenery.
“They’re definitely a lot more different than the games.” Sirius replied.
Even in Legends Arceus, what little Arun could finish, Solaceon was not as detailed as it was here. Had someone added to the structure? If so, when? It would have had to have been after the Legends game, but then how long ago was that? There were too many damn questions, and as usual, they had almost no answers.
“No, not that man.” Felis said, “Look how cool this shit is! We’re going to be exploring ruins and ancient civilizations dude! Tell me you aren't excited for this!”
Sirius stopped, blinking twice as he stared at his brother. His face was lit up in a toothy smile, eyes never spending a second in one spot as they hungrily took in the environment around them.
“Arun! Arun! Look at this!” He remembered a younger Pranav saying, holding up a magazine, “They found a bunch of these Tao…Teo…Teocalli! Aztec temples! Isn’t it cool?”
That’s right…he always did want to be an archeologist first and foremost, didn’t he? Before the reality of adulthood, the burden of finances, Pranav would get lost in games that required exploration. Uncharted, Fallen Order, Greedfall, Legends of Zelda, hell, the only time he really paid attention in Pokémon was when there were ruins to discover.
“Pft.” Sirius snickered.
“What?”
“You look like a little puppy, dude.”
“Huh?”
“He’s right.” Hazel snickered, “Don’t go chasing Butterfree on us dude.”
“Oh fuck off.” Pran grumbled, somehow both sulking and remaining in awe at the same time.
“Aw, don’t be sad little brother. Maybe we’ll find a nice rock for you to discover. Would that make you feel better?”
“It fucking would.” His brother growled as the group laughed, “I’m gonna name it the ‘SiriusIsAnAsshole’ rock.”
He laughed again, not so much at his brother, but at the fact that this side of him still existed, the side that could be genuinely curious, genuinely passionate.
It left a good feeling in his heart.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Boss, we’ve arrived!” Remi declared, “On time, just as promised.”
It took every ounce of Felis’s power to hide the raw contempt he felt for the man. A Roadblock, he felt the term was apt for those types of people. Their only redeeming quality in the face of a heartless organization was their loyalty to those above them. Bitter and jealous, they pushed everyone else down in order to make themselves look better. Reality was they weren’t worth shit, most companies recognized that too, leaving them stuck in the most basic of management positions.
“Good work.” Cyrus said, “Talk to Marigold, she’ll give you your postings.”
“Oh…I assumed…”
“Hm?”
“Nothing, sir. Alright all of you, with me.”
“Sirius. You and your brother stay.”
Remi made a surprised sound, his eyes widening as he looked between the two brothers. He looked as if he wanted to protest, but one look from the Grunts guarding Cyrus made him think twice, nodding as he left with the other four.
Felis made sure Remi saw the absolute shit-eating grin plastered on his face before he controlled his features in front of the big man himself.
They were currently in Cyrus’s tent, painted a deep, navy blue that was recently erected. There was a single table in front of them, various reports, maps, and books stacked neatly atop the table in almost perfect order. Cyrus was dressed the same as he’d always been, though the Grunts that guarded him appeared very different than what Felis was used to seeing, their uniforms a grey-black instead of the usual white-black. Oh, and they also weren’t wearing their wigs.
So they were probably dangerous.
“Sirius.” Cyrus said with a ghost of a smile, “How are you?”
“Good, sir. Ready for work.”
“Hell yeah.” Felis thought, proud though a tad bit jealous. “Guess the Aurafire fight put Arun in his good books.”
“And you.” Cyrus continued, nodding at him, “Your suggestion with the news crews was useful on such short notice, thank you.”
“Always, boss.” Felis grinned.
“When we first met…” Cyrus trailed, selecting a faded diagram of Dialga from a stack of papers,
“You gave me names of Sinnoh’s deities. Ones we thought were lost to time. How were you able to find them?”
Sirius shifted to the left, casually bumping Felis’s shoulder. “Sorry.” He mumbled, Felis brushed it off, nodding and turning to Cyrus.
“We’re being watched.” Felis frowned internally, recognizing the signal Sirius had given him. Was it like last time? A Pokémon checking them for lies? Last time he’d been out of it, exhausted and scared, he couldn’t talk his way out.
It would be different this time.
“Canada recognizes them all,” He began, “they aren’t exactly the main religions, but they’ve amassed a cult following for the longest time.”
“And how is it that your region knows what was lost to us?”
“Any reason I put out there wouldn’t make sense. The names of Sinnoh’s deities were decided long before I knew what the hell was going on. All I know is that that’s what they’ve always been named.”
“And you said you have their typings? Where did you get them from?”
“The people before me again, they released the typings when I was just a kid. We’re looking at Dragon-Steel for Dialga, Dragon-Water for Palkia, Dragon-Ghost for Giratina.”
“...and how certain are you of their accuracy?”
“As certain as the sky is blue, boss.”
“I see.” Cyrus’s gaze seemed to pierce Felis’s own, scanning for any semblance of a lie. He remained firm though, purposely shifting in place in order to assuage the Galactic boss’s ego.
“Very well, come, take a look at this.” He plucked a rolled map from the left of the table, placing it perfectly and rolling it open. The Grunt guards wasted zero time, sliding paper weights into the four corners as the map faced them.
The drawings were simple, to the point displaying only the most important information. There was the central chamber, reminiscent of the massive hall in Legends Arceus, but connected were the various steps that lead to higher floors he vividly remembered climbing in Diamond. Those were disappointing. He remembered feeling so excited finding the unknown text, and then figuring out it was just some bullshit about friendship.
Oh. There was a nugget or something, wasn’t there?
“Solaceon ruins.” Cyrus’s voice crept through his ear, “The location of this ruin has been known to us for a long, long time. Anything useful has long been taken from the place, so we’ve kept it open for the Manics that like to poke around.”
“Recently, however. Our lead scientist found something strange.” The map was flipped over, and Felis felt his heart begin to beat faster, “Recent readings reported chasms deep underground. At first thought to be Pokémon, but we found out otherwise.”
“It’s beautiful.” Felis whispered, staring down at the map.
Already he could see the design of this “secret temple”, the rough outline depicting four chambers, each in strange shapes that by no means could have been made naturally.
“Indeed.” Cyrus chuckled, “I’ve had Jupiter investigate, I was wholly expecting for this to be a dud…”
“But…?” Felis egged him on, damn the man knew how to capture his attention.
“But then we found it.” Cyrus smiled, smiled fully. It was a strange look on the otherwise stern-faced man, but Felis was too excited to care, staring at the new map that looked to have been hand-drawn. “The first of the chamber’s was breached, roughly 1500 metres below the surface. Tell me, do you recognize anything?”
Felis stared, this seemed to be the central chamber, though at the bottom many lines were drawn within, Felis guessed them to be the various halls and rooms within.
“Dialga’s chest piece…” Sirius breathed.
Felis’s eyes widened, he was right! The shape was akin to a Monster Reborn spell from Yu-gi-oh, but then again, wasn’t that basically the same shape as Dialga’s chest piece?
“Precisely!” Cyrus said, a strange fervor building in his voice, “People before Sinnoh, before Hisui. What type of people were they, to build such a grand structure? And how were they able to preserve their temple for this long?”
“But what about Chronos?” Sirius asked, “Do we have the time to handle this while they work their plans?”
“Do you not see the importance of this, Sirius?” Cyrus asked, gesturing towards the maps and data, “This will be the discovery for generations to come. Chronos are nothing but a cult of gangsters, one I could wipe out at any moment! But this? This could bring us a step closer to our goal, to our dream!”
Felis knew what he was doing, using “our” to bring in support and appealing to their natural instinct to be one with a group. He knew but he still felt himself get swept along with it. Fuck Chronos! Ancient Ruins!
“Saturn and Mars shall guard our borders, but we must get to the bottom of this.”
“When do we leave?” Felis asked, “And what do you need us to do sir?”
“You’ve proved yourself capable against Aurafire Sirius, and you told me the two of you worked better together, is that still true?”
“Oh THANK YOU ARUN!” Felis squealed internally, oh if he could give his brother a kiss without getting punched in the face, he would.
“It is, sir. Always will be.” Sirius replied professionally.
“And your knowledge of the Deities?”
“You won’t find anyone better.” Felis answered, grinning like a madman.
“Then keep your Pokémon close, and walk with me.” Cyrus nodded, grabbing his belt as his two guards moved to open the tent flaps for him.
“We have work to do.”