Alec’s mind was filled with fog as he slowly pulled himself back to wakefulness.

His entire body was sore and tense, as if he’d just sprinted a two-mile run. A migraine hammered away at his brain with a steel chisel. But he could feel the world around him, and it felt oddly soft and comforting.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, squinting through the bright lights around him. He was reclining on something soft. His body felt warm, save for a cold feeling on his head.

Where am I? he wondered. Sifting back into his memory…

First, there was his showdown with Kleavor. Where he’d fought the embodiment of razor-sharp death and lived to tell the tale. He’d proven himself to be Kleavor’s equal and saved all the Pokemon who called the area home.

Second, there was the Insect Plate’s attack. Where, in the span of a moment, Alec’s mind was shattered and stitched back together.

Third, there was his vision of Arceus again. Where he learned about the nature of Type energy and how he’d have to find the remaining Plates if he wanted to return home.

Arceus had mentioned that, because of the Insect plate, his senses and sense of direction would be stronger. Admittedly, he was a little excited at that idea. It might’ve been the placebo effect, but he thought he could smell the surrounding area clearer. A small sliver of him couldn’t wait to hit the fields again to test it out. The rest of him, however, was too tired to move.

As his eyes adjusted to the bright room, he began to recognize where he was. Around him, the walls of Jubilife’s infirmary materialized into reality. He was lying in a white hospital bed. On a table next to him was a half-empty bowl of broth and a few pieces of a sliced berry. From the top edge of his vision, he could see a wet rag draped over his forehead to cool him down.

The room was quiet and empty. He slowly sat up, hissing as his right leg shifted uncomfortably. It was concealed under the blanket, but he could feel something wrapping around his foot.

Probably a bandage or something, he thought. He paused for a moment. Wait a second, how am I going to work with this? I can’t run around at all with this!”

As he was considering his options, he heard faint footsteps approaching. Joyce, the medic, entered the room through a door on the opposite side of the room. She carried a wooden bucket full of water.

She smiled warmly once she saw that he was awake. “Good morning,” she said, setting the bucket near the foot of the bed.

“What day is it?” Alec croaked. He was taken aback at how coarse his voice sounded. He coughed a few times to clear his throat.

She chuckled faintly. “You sound like you’ve been asleep for years. It’s Tuesday. You’ve been unconscious for a little over a day.”

He groaned. “That explains why I’m so sore.”

“You gave the entire village a scare,” she said, reaching down into the bucket. “Rei and Akari camped out by the village gate waiting for you. They stayed up all night and nearly passed out from exhaustion the next day.”

He laughed dryly. Why did they care so much about him? It was only natural to feel empathetic, but to that degree?

“Here, lay back down,” Joyce said calmly. She held a new rag in her hand, dripping wet. “You haven’t had a fever or anything, but I’ve found that cool rags work miracles.”

She grabbed the damp rag already on Alec’s head and switched them, tossing the used one into the bucket. Slowly, Alec laid back down on the bed.

“You need a haircut, young man,” she said.

“Who are you, my mom?” Alec asked sarcastically. “But yeah, you’re right. I need one pretty badly. It’s been like two months since my last one, I think.”

“Talk to Anthe. Shockingly enough, she’s good with scissors,” she said sarcastically.

Alec laughed. Anthe is a seamstress and owns the village’s only clothing shop, of course, she’d be skilled with that kind of thing. He made a mental note to stop by sometime later.

“Where are my Pokemon?” he asked.

“Out back playing in the pasture,” she replied, glancing out a nearby window. “Your Rowlet barely had any injuries to heal so he’s completely fine.”

“Good.” Alec grabbed his necklace to check the time. It was more of a habit for him to consult his necklace as often as he could. Most of the time, he never even needed to know the time or where he was, he just liked the comfort of holding it. The cold metal in his hand felt comforting and reminded him of his mom.

He reached to where it hung on his neck-

And only grasped air.

His brows furrowed in confusion as he blindly fumbled around for a moment. It must’ve shifted in his sleep. But after a couple of seconds of looking, he still couldn’t find it.

His eyes widened as he shot into an upright position. He tore off the bedsheets, ignoring the flash of pain from his foot, and began frantically searching for his necklace.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down!” Joyce nearly shouted. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find my necklace!” Alec said. “Do you have it? I could’ve lost it at Grandtree. I gotta go check! When can I leave?”

“Slow down!” Joyce insisted. “Do you mean this strange thing?”

She rummaged in her coat pocket and pulled out Alec’s necklace. He breathed a massive sigh of relief and stretched out his hand to take it from her. He quickly fastened the metal clasp around his neck and held the medallion with both hands, as if someone would take it from him. Though he was now technically carrying extra weight, the touch of the cold metal seemed to take fifty pounds off his body.

“I’ve never seen a piece of jewelry with those markings on it,” she said. “What does it mean? A family crest?”

“No, it’s a gift from my mom,” Alec said. “Look, this side tells the time. When the little hand points up toward the ‘XII’ symbol, it’s either noon or midnight.”

Joyce hummed. “Neat. I can understand your panic. Something so sentimental would be worth the journey back to Grandtree, especially considering your memory situation.”

Alec stayed silent, content to simply hold it tight. Right now, that necklace was the only physical thing he had that connected him back to his home. He may currently be living in Jubilife Village in Hisui, but he’ll always cling to his true home of Lacunosa Town in Unova.

“Don’t try to stand up,” Joyce said. “Your ankle is still hurt pretty badly. What happened?”

Honestly, it was hard to say. Alec sighed. “I made a stupid mistake. I got too close to Kleavor and as I backed up, my foot got caught in a gash. My ankle rolled and broke.”

Joyce winced. “Well, it’s not my job to lecture you on how to be safe. Even if it was, you kids would never listen to me. Anyways, I’m keeping you here until tomorrow morning, at the minimum.”

Alec groaned, knowing he’d be bored to death in the meantime. Joyce clicked her tongue. “Don’t talk back to me, you did this to yourself by being reckless. I should let everyone know you’re awake,” Joyce finally said. “I assume you don’t want to see Kamado or Cyllene yet, right?”

Alec quickly nodded.

“Thought so. I’ll go get Laventon and the twins. I’m sure they’ll be happy to know you’re doing alright. They’ll probably keep you company.”

As she turned to leave, she looked back at Alec and said, “Stay put. Don’t even think about getting up.”

She spoke in that tone of voice that all mothers had, the one where it didn’t even cross your mind to disobey them. If Joyce knew Alec’s full name, she definitely would have referred to him by it.

Come to think of it, I don’t think anyone here knows my middle or last name, Alec thought. It had never come up in conversation. Now that he really considered family names, he realized that he didn’t know anyone’s full name.

Alec wondered what his mom would say if she knew what he’d done, fighting Kleavor and all. Firstly, she’d be worried about him. Alec chuckled at the mental image, of his mom rushing over to his bed and pulling him into a tight hug. She’d hold him close and pat him on the back.

Legendaries Above, he missed her.

But just before his thoughts got too depressing, he heard movement outside his little room. Soon, Rei and Akari burst into the room, each one short of breath.

Between gasps, Akari said, “Alec! You’re okay!”

“Thank Sinnoh,” Rei breathed.

“Legends, did you guys run all the way here?” Alec laughed. “I’m fine, see? Kleavor barely got a scratch on me.”

“What’s that then?” Akari asked, pointing to his bandaged leg.

Alec sighed and rolled his eyes. “I did that to myself. Got cocky, tripped and fell, and paid for it.”

The twins winced. “We asked Laventon about what you’d be facing,” Rei said. “I don’t know how you did it. The Alphas around Jubilife are one thing, but a Pokemon like the Noble that can kill you with a flick of its wrist?” He shook his head in disbelief.

“I barely know how I did it, too,” Alec admitted, shrugging. “It was mostly instinct, honestly.”

“How long are you stuck in here?” Rei asked. “We’ll take you to Beni’s once you’re out to celebrate our victory, then we can have another battle.”

“Everyone wants the chance to fight against the Pokemon that bested the Noble Kleavor,” Akari added.

Just then, Alec tilted his head, having heard more footsteps approaching. A moment later, Laventon appeared in the doorway.

“Goodness me, my boy, you gave me quite the scare! Seeing Lian and Irida carry your unconscious body through the village gate! I thought it was a corpse, I nearly had a heart attack!”

He looked disheveled, comparatively speaking. Laventon always looked disheveled, but somehow he looked even moreso right now. His hat was skewed to the side, he had thick bags under his eyes, and he fidgeted nervously with his hands.

“Sorry to worry you,” Alec said.

“So tell me,” he said, walking up to the foot of the bed. “Would you say Kleavor was closer to seven-foot-three or seven-foot-four? I haven’t gotten an exact measurement yet. And what moves did it use?”

His fingers twitched reflexively as if he were taking notes on a notepad with a pencil. Alec supposed that he was silently wishing he brought a notebook.

Alec’s eyes widened, taken aback at Laventon’s sudden inquisitiveness. “I, uh, didn’t really notice too much stuff like that. I was more focusing on, uh, not dying."

“Oh, yes of course,” he said awkwardly. “Very sorry. But what about the balms? How did they fare?”

“What balms?” Akari interjected.

“Laventon made Kleavor’s favorite foods into a mixture, kind of like those bean cake rations. I threw them at it to calm it down,” Alec said. Facing Laventon, he said, “Professor, I owe you my life. They couldn’t have worked better.”

“Fantastic! And say no such thing, it was merely my duty as a scientist and academic to help my fellow researcher,” he said happily.

“So you were dodging its attacks and throwing balms at it? What happened in the battle?” Rei asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. It only had two ‘moves’ that it used, a charge and a spin. The charge was pretty easy to deal with once I got the hang of it. I just had to watch out for when it bent down and roll out of the way. For the spin, it seemed like some variant of Air Cutter or Gust, even though it isn’t a Flying type. I just had to put enough distance between us in time.”

He gestured down to his ankle. “I wasn’t quick enough and got this as a thank-you gift.”

Rei swatted him on the shoulder. He spoke with firmness. “You’re lucky it’s still attached to your body. Did you even see all the fallen tree trunks everywhere?”

“I had to end the fight quickly. I would’ve died if the fight was any more drawn out. I had to take a few risks, it’s fine.”

Rei pursed his lips together but didn’t say anything. No it isn’t, he wanted to cry out.

Silence hung in the air like smoke for several moments, choking their conversation. Rei’s defiance of Alec’s recklessness remained unsaid. He so desperately wanted to throw his composure to the floor and berate Alec for putting his life at risk like that.

It wasn’t right for him to even have to consider such self-sacrifice. Rei wondered what pushed Alec so hard to right the wrongs that weren’t even his in the first place. He reminded him of a hero from a fairy tale or bedtime story, simply seeing injustice and correcting it for the sake of doing good. Although, he knew Alec wasn’t motivated by justice. Based on how melancholy he sounded that morning at the gate, his altruism was motivated by something else.

Rei sighed as he considered his options, breaking his eye contact with Alec to instead look down shamefully.

Likewise, Alec felt his breathing pattern sharpen a little at Rei’s outburst. Rei thought he didn’t already know that? Rei seriously thought Alec hadn’t already considered every other option and found them all lacking?

What did he take Alec for, some kind of saint, vigilante, or martyr? Someone who’d jump at the chance to altruistically throw their life away at a moment’s notice? Alec’s choices to put himself on the line were his own. Truthfully, Alec was entirely fine with such risks, knowing they were his only way to see his mom again.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Right, I’ll do that,” he eventually said. His voice was flat, like a speech read from a prompt card.

“Either way, it’s in the past,” Akari said. As she spoke, her voice barely wavered. “All that matters is Alec is okay, right? Besides, it’s not like he’ll have to do that again,” she said with a laugh.

“Hopefully not,” Rei said, studying the wooden floor.

Alec sighed out his nose, calming himself and reminding himself that everyone there was on edge. “Joyce said I could get out of here tomorrow morning. You guys want to meet up somewhere?”

Immediately, both twins brightened. “Sure!” Akari said.

“We don’t have anything going on, let’s do it at Beni’s, like we said earlier,” said Rei.

“But what about your Pokemon?” asked Akari, glancing around the room. “Don’t they need to recover, too? Speaking of, where are they?”

Alec leaned forward in his bed and pointed out the window. “In the pasture. Tricky wasn’t in the battle so he’s fine. Auster’s gotta rest today but he’ll be better by tomorrow. Battle junkies, the both of them.”

Internally, Alec knew that it looked bad for him to be so injured while his team was fine. Normally, the human acted as a strategist and observer so the Pokemon could perform to their highest ability.

That’s why wild Pokemon tended to battle suboptimally and not meet their full potential. They didn’t understand things like type matchups and seldom used moves that didn’t outright damage their opponent, like Growl and Leer.

Even though both Pokemon’s conditions resulted from a strategic decision on Alec’s part, he knew Rei and Akari would think he was throwing himself in danger to protect them. Tricky hadn’t seen the battle because Alec knew that a single hit would kill him no matter what and he was severely lacking in mobility compared to Auster. Though a single hit could kill Alec, he still had the potential to survive it too.

Laventon raised his hand to his chin. “Smart move, keeping your Shinx out of the battle. Paralysis would’ve been invaluable but very risky. That being said, I must be going. I was in the middle of an examination when Joyce came and told me you were awake, and that is a rather pressing matter. I wish you a speedy recovery.”

“Thanks for stopping by, professor,” Alec said, smiling warmly.

“Any time, my boy!”

With a wave, Laventon turned and left. Devoid of topics of conversation, Alec hesitantly spoke up. “Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

“Like on Corps business or in general?” asked Rei.

“Anything. It’s gonna be a boring day holed up in here, the least you could do is tell me what’s going on outside,” Alec lamented.

Rei snorted and looked upward, recalling the previous two days. “Well, yesterday, Akari got us both shocked,” he said in a playfully exasperated tone.

“Did not! And we discussed this, it was a miscommunication!”

Alec laughed at her outburst. “What happened?”

----------------------------------------

The tall grass rustled as Rei crept through it, crouching down to not be seen. He shot a glance to his side, where Akari knelt beside him. She didn’t notice him, eyes fixed on their target.

His feet hurt and he was tired. It had been a long day of surveying the land. He had several scrapes peppered along his arms.

Any moment now, Rei thought. The grass rustled in the wind, occasionally revealing a gap for him to peer through and see his target.

In the clearing before them, the Shinx that they’d been tracking for the past half-hour wandered about, sniffing the air.

He looked back at Akari again, who met his eyes and nodded. This is it, he thought.

As silently as he could, he shrugged his satchel from his shoulders and rested it on the dirt. Reaching inside, he slowly pulled out a shiny red Pokeball - freshly crafted for this very occasion. Beside him, Akari did the same.

Usually, they used a system to determine who got to keep the Pokemon when they both were involved in the hunting process. They typically agreed that whoever threw the ball that caught it kept the first one, then they’d help the other find the next one.

Luckily, Akari wasn’t interested in catching a Shinx, already having an Electric-type. He’d promised to help her on her next catch, though.

Today was the first time either of them had tracked a Shinx. They’d encountered many of the species during their time as Corps members, though they mostly avoided them. None of their Pokemon knew any moves to efficiently take them out so they tended to be nuisances more than anything else.

However, once they saw how Alec synergized with the one he caught, Rei was inspired. He wasn’t copying Alec’s catch, he was just trying to build his team to be diverse. Eevee didn’t plan on evolving into a Jolteon and Oshawott, being a water type, would cover an Electric-type’s weakness to Ground nicely.

(Rei would never admit it, but he was secretly relieved that Eevee never expressed interest in the three evolutions that required stones - Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon. If it did, Rei would’ve gladly saved up for an evolution stone, but they were crazy expensive.)

Rei heard a faint whisper coming from Akari, breaking him from his train of thought. “What?” he whispered.

“Look, in the clearing! There’s two!” Akari hissed as quietly as she could.

Rei squinted into the afternoon sun, scanning the clearing. Sure enough, a second Shinx had appeared while he was lost in thought. The two seemed to be playing together, tackling each other and rolling around in the dirt.

The twins watched in silence for several minutes as the two Shinx had their fun. Honestly, it was pretty cute, seeing them bark and yip at each other as they fought. If they got lucky and caught both, maybe they’d donate the other one to Laventon for research or see if a guardsman wanted it.

Before long, they tired of their game and separated, loping over to opposite ends of the clearing to rest. Rei glanced back at Akari and they both nodded in unison. An unspoken agreement that they’d made several times: You go for one, I’ll go for the other.

Rei felt his Pokeball in his hands, feeling every minute imperfection on its surface and analyzing its weight. He trusted his throwing aim, but it never hurt to be careful. If he missed his one opportunity to throw, the Shinx would probably notice his presence and shock him.

(He’d been shocked before and really didn’t want to repeat the experience, thank you very much)

“Three,” he heard Akari whisper.

Here it came, his opportunity. He scanned the positions of the Shinx, determining his target. In the brush, Rei was on the right while Akari was on the left. He eyed the Shinx on the right, knowing that Akari would be targeting the other one, where she was. Hers was a bit farther away, but he trusted her reasoning.

“Two,” he whispered back in confirmation.

----------------------------------------

“Are you serious?” Alec laughed. “You guys have a system for counting down?”

“Quiet, don’t interrupt the story,” Rei said.

----------------------------------------

Both Shinx were blissfully unaware of the two ambitious Trainers in the brush.

“One,” they said in unison, finalizing the deal.

In perfect sync, they both stood up from the brush and flung their Pokeballs with all their might. Rei watched hopefully as it sailed through the air, straight toward his intended target. The Shinx, startled, looked up at him wide-mouthed, too surprised to get out of the way.

He could practically taste the success, basically already hear the fireworks from the ball that signaled a successful catch, until-

His Pokeball smacked into another Pokeball, knocking them both out of the way.

His head whirled over to Akari, who looked just as surprised as him. What just happened? Why did she throw her ball at his target?

Then, a realization dawned on Rei. He quickly whirled back to the Shinx, where both stared directly at them. They’d revealed their positions to attempt the catch and now that neither Shinx was safely inside a ball, they were vulnerable.

Both Shinx growled angrily and instead of the successful crackle of the firework, the crackle of electricity rang out.

He inhaled and winced as both Shinx cried out, blasting him and Akari with their power. They were both reduced to twitching piles on the floor.

----------------------------------------

“And we laid there for like thirty minutes, just twitching and spasming every time we tried to get up,” Rei said, exasperated.

Alec had long since abandoned trying to contain his laughter. Tears streamed down his face as he laughed at their mistake. “Are you serious? That really happened?” he managed to squeeze out.

“Yup,” Akari deadpanned. “All because this idiot threw his ball at the one that was way closer to me!”

“You mean the one that was on the right? The side I was on? While the other one was on the left, by you?”

“I cannot believe you’re still arguing with me about this.” She turned to Alec. “Can you believe him?”

“Stop, both of you, please stop,” Alec begged in between laughs. “I can’t breathe!”

Despite how in sync they were, Alec couldn’t believe that they’d made such a massive miscommunication. It was like something out of a comedy movie, constantly on the receiving end of physical jokes.

Reluctantly, they quit their bickering and broke the glare they were sharing. Alec tried as hard as he could to compose himself. Eventually, he steadied his breathing.

“Honestly, I gotta go with Akari on this one,” Alec said, wiping a tear from his eye. Rei gaped and Akari turned to him smugly. “Ha! You hear that? It was your fault we got shocked!”

“I’m only saying that because you guys only needed one Shinx and she had the easiest shot at it. If y’all needed both, Rei would’ve been right.”

“But we didn’t!” Akari said in a sing-song voice, mocking her twin. Rei rolled his eyes and scoffed.

Alec smiled at the mirthful atmosphere around them. He was thankful that he’d met Rei and Akari. They’d shared with him immeasurable levels of wisdom on how to survive, navigate, and cultivate the land of Hisui that he likely never would’ve figured out by himself.

As he laughed at the twins’ misfortune, Akari’s childish mocking, and Rei’s overplayed anger, the air felt lighter than helium. “The past, and all the pains that went with it, are gone now. Now, all that’s left is your new friends,” it seemed to say. The relaxation it brought was unparalleled, like a hot shower after a long and stressful day.

They remained happy like that for a while, engaging in pleasant small talk and swapping stories from their various adventures. Alec was happy that the twins had warmed up to him so quickly.

Soon enough, they were cut short by Joyce’s return. She carried some vegetables tied in a burlap sack. As she entered, she smiled at the three kids animatedly talking.

“I hate to break up the party,” she said. “But it’s getting late and Alec needs to rest.”

“Late?” Akari asked. “It’s barely the afternoon. Did we lose track of time?”

The three glanced out the window, expecting to see the bright blue of a midday sky. Instead, the sky was painted bright orange by the setting sun. Alec checked his watch. 6:25.

“Sinnoh, it got late fast,” lamented Rei.

“See you tomorrow, Alec!” Akari said as she left the room alongside her brother.

----------------------------------------

About an hour later, Joyce entered the room. Alec sat up on the bed, holding the hunting knife he got from Anvin. Beside him, on the bedside table, were several freshly carved Pokeball lids. The one he was holding was half-finished, only being a blocky imitation of a sphere.

“Be careful with that knife,” Joyce chided. “You could lose a finger.”

“I know. I’m being careful,” Alec replied.

Joyce came over and took the knife from his hand. “Here, do it this way instead. Cut by pushing the blade away from yourself, that way if you lose control, it won’t cut you.”

She handed the tool back to Alec, who furrowed his brows and tried it her way. He hummed when it worked exactly as she described.

“Anvin taught you, am I right? I used to patch up his cut hands once a week. That fool has no respect for proper tool safety,” she said, shaking her head. “Anyways, I know it’s late, but I’ve got one last person who wants to talk to you. She’ll understand if you’re too tired, though.”

“Who?”

“Irida of the Pearl clan. She told me it’s very important and that she’ll only need a minute or two.”

Alec shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

Irida, the leader of the Pearl clan, entered the room. Her eyes were red from crying and her shoulders slouched like she was carrying a pallet of a thousand bricks.

As soon as she saw him, Irida’s eyes widened and her burden seemed to lighten somewhat. She exhaled deeply and said, “Alec, the Pearl clan is in your debt. We thank you for the great favor you have done for us. You risked your life for the well-being of our Noble and prevented countless other deaths. I cannot express how grateful we truly are. Consider yourself welcome in the Pearl settlement in the icelands any time. Thanks to you, Grandtree can begin to heal again.”

Alec smiled happily. “That’s good to hear. How are Kleavor and Lian doing?”

“Kleavor is back to its usual self. It’s helping the local Pokemon find shelter. I fear to say that the area may take years to properly recover. But its opportunity to do so is entirely because of you, Alec. Though I am curious, what happened during your encounter with Kleavor?”

“Lian told me what Kleavor’s favorite foods were so I fought it with balms made from their scents. Auster, my Rowlet, backed me up and we took it down together. I got careless and Kleavor gave me this parting gift,” he deadpanned, gesturing to his bandaged foot.

Irida smiled warmly and raised her head. She closed her eyes and whispered something that Alec couldn’t hear, likely a prayer to Arceus. “Well, I wish you a speedy recovery. I regret that you got hurt on our behalf.”

“Not at all,” Alec said. “It was my fault; I was too careless.”

“Regardless, it happened because we asked you to be in that situation. However, I must be off. I promised Joyce that I’d only take a minute of your time. I hope that you’re healed and enjoying Hisui’s vast space soon. Goodbye.”

----------------------------------------

Lian was awestruck. How was this possible?

He stared at the world around him, figuratively and literally fallen apart. Thanks to Kleavor’s rampage, the former beauty of Grandtree was reduced to a little more than a wasteland, haunted by the spirit of its former self.

The breeze sent chills down his spine, though his usual companion of rustling trees failed to accompany the whispering wind. The silence was eerie.

Before him, Kleavor was helping a pair of Burmy find a new place to call home. It was using its blessed axes to chop up a fallen tree and fashion them a shelter. The act confused Lian.

He looked toward the heavens. Instead of the deep blue, he saw only a layer of overcast clouds. “Why, Sinnoh?” he said aloud. Nothing made sense. Hadn’t Sinnoh sent Kleavor that blessing as a gift? A boon of power to claim more land, display its dominance, and drive back the outsiders and the cursed Diamond clan?

“Why did you stand with that boy?” he spat. “Why give us this gift only to take it away?”

He had said it and he meant it; it would’ve taken an act of Sinnoh to stop Kleavor’s rampage. So if Sinnoh saw fit to end it, the only logical conclusion would be…

… that he was wrong, and it was never a blessing to begin with. The thought disgusted him, somehow leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

He approached Kleavor. “My Noble,” he said. Kleavor looked up from its work. It slowly rose to its full height and stared at Lian with its stone gaze.

“What was it like, being filled with Sinnoh’s power?”

Kleavor stared, unflinching and unmoving.

“Was Irida right? Were you really lost and out of control, like she said?”

Almost imperceptibly, Kleavor dipped its head, nodding.

Lian drew in a breath, feeling a bead of sweat drip down from his hair. “And… the boy was right, wasn’t he? You were in pain, the whole time.”

Lian liked to think he was a rational person. That’s why he still forced himself to ask that question, though he’d already figured out the answer. His voice broke and his hands trembled. This was not how an esteemed Warden was meant to act!

Sensing Lian’s apprehension, Kleavor kept brutally staring at him. He felt like a criminal facing down the judge.

“So it’s true then. It wasn’t a blessing from Sinnoh at all. It was a curse. I failed you.”

Lian looked down at his hands, dirty and calloused. His fingers trembled and small droplets of blood pooled around where his fingernails cut into his palms. His fingers were stained with the harsh sanguine red. The droplets of blood on his hands pooled together, forming small puddles that seemed to be miles deep.

With the blindfold of hubris pulled over his mind, Lian had stood by and watched while his one purpose in life writhed in agony. He felt a small headache burrow its way into his head and bile rise up in his throat. He had been wrong and his actions had directly caused Kleavor and many others harm.

Lian wiped his brow and exhaled slowly.

He approached the chopped log that Kleavor was preparing for the Burmy.

“How can I help?”

----------------------------------------

It didn’t make any sense. Why had she helped him?

Because he was in danger, the old part of her said. The part she’d left behind and trampled years ago.

Shut up. I silenced you for a reason, she thought. Though the question remained. When she saw the boy who had left food out for her in danger, what had spurred her into action?

She’d been silently tracking him for a few days. His very existence perplexed her. Initially, she’d told herself it was for the free food that he’d been leaving her every evening, though lately that excuse just did not seem adequate enough anymore.

She’d never been the curious type. Why be curious and seek out the unknown when it could be dangerous, especially when the current situation was already fine? Why peer into the darkness trying to discover something new when you could discover something bigger and stronger peering back?

But lately, that unfounded curiosity had been thumbtacked to the back of her brain, constantly reminding her of that perplexing boy.

Maybe he’s trying to set a trap. He must be luring me in, making me complicit and comfortable, then he’ll exact his revenge for stealing his food, she thought. That was the most rational explanation. Humans were vengeful creatures who didn’t see reason properly.

That night, when she’d intended to avoid him in case he’d attack her, she came across him elsewhere. Instead of camping by his usual fire, she’d found him over by the old tall tree.

She didn’t fear being noticed or seen as she wandered about the woods, trying to find a place to spend the night. The sounds of battle drew her attention so she headed over. Maybe she could catch the two disputing Pokemon unaware and weak and find herself an easy meal.

But instead of two feuding Pokemon, she found Arceus’ blessed Kleavor and -

What’s he doing here? she wondered, shocked. Why was the boy running about the area, throwing food-smelling objects at Kleavor?

An unknown feeling seized her as she watched him deftly roll out of the path of an incoming axe. She exhaled when he stood up and threw another balm at Kleavor. He and his Rowlet kept trying with all they had to best Kleavor.

What was going on? Was the boy trying the same trap on Kleavor, pacifying it with food and attacking it?

She watched for a little while longer, unable to tear her eyes away, until she found the boy lying immobile on the ground. He was wounded because of his carelessness; he never should’ve been that close to Kleavor’s attack.

As Kleavor prepared to charge, she felt the old part of her offer a suggestion. Help him, as he helped you.

Why should I? she wondered, trying to find a rational reason for why she was feeling this way. Why should I bother wasting my energy helping him? What’s in it for me?

He did the same to you when he threw his food to you. He gave up something of his without expecting you to return it, it annoyingly countered. She thought she’d rid herself of these feelings. There was a reason she’d buried this part of her in the ice.

She looked back and forth, between Kleavor and the boy, for what felt like an eternity. Her face was stoic but her mind was entirely in disorder.

Finally, she reached a conclusion. Alright, I’ll help him, she thought. But only so that he’ll live to keep giving me food. I’m only doing this for my own benefit.

Channeling her power through her, she extended her cloak to the boy. It didn’t require much power; Kleavor was so frenzied that it barely took any effort to fool him.

She watched in satisfaction as it worked perfectly. Kleavor charged right by the boy, who’d pushed out of the way regardless.

Snickering in satisfaction, she fled into the night, already planning how she’d return to the edges of his campfire and find the food he left for her.

End of Arc One