"The spire of light that appeared in Jubilife City’s business district between 10 and 12 in the evening could be seen from all over Sinnoh and the strange phenomena was soon called: The Shine. The source of this anomaly is still unknown. Rumors say that some kind of Pokémon created it while other people claim that Rayquaza might have something to do with it. As of now, there's an abundance of theories swarming the web and while we still are waiting for an official response from the League we have confirmation that Suicune moved from Johto to Sinnoh this morning."

The news reporter that stood in front of the crater waited in silence and brushed a hairlock out of her face as she waited for the camera crew to get their shit together.

The broadcast changed and a bad quality video started playing.

There was a big blue surface and although the quality of the video was around the same one you have in UFO sightings, I could still make out it was water.

A black streak shot over the screen and just like that the video was over. The video was rewinded and paused the moment the black streak was visible. It zoomed in again, lowering the quality of the video once again.

If I really narrowed my eyes I could vaguely make out the shape of a Pokémon one might describe as Suicune.

The newscast went back to the reporter in Jubilife City. "Is there a correlation between Suicune's arrival and the Shine?" The question was asked in such a way, that anyone who hadn’t thought that would think that now.

She smiled. "Only time will tell. This was Lissa Thunders from Sinnoh. Now, back to you, George!"

"Thank you, Lissa." A fat man with a fancy suit replied stoically, "Now we have some eyewitnesses..."

"So," I tapped the spacebar and the video stopped playing. "Just like Looker predicted, they somehow manage to sweep the facts under the rug."

Chelsea took a bite from her apple. "Isn't that a bit too soon to say?"

I glanced at the clock in the room, it was still 9 in the morning but I really doubted more information would be shared by the police.

Right now their official statement was: fuck it, we don't know what happened. Well not exactly but that was the gist of it.

Some theories on the internet I read this morning did provide a link between a hostile takeover of the Devon Corp building and the Shine but those links were drowned out in the sea of theories swarming online.

Although to be honest I myself was unsure of what had actually happened.

What I did know was that there was an aura storm in the city that was invisible to the naked eye and two eggs that were being hatched at the eye of this storm, using two machines that most likely helped the eggs absorb the aura or had any other function related to it.

Something went wrong, or maybe Galactic had planned it to end like this? Regardless, the end result remained the same. A big boom, an explosion of light and finally a spire of aura and everyone inside the building went poof.

Most likely incinerated to death.

Did I feel guilty?

Not really, I wasn't personally responsible for the Shine. Team Galactic was doing shady shit and they were experimenting with Pokémon eggs. It blew up, their death was in some kind of way inevitable.

Seeing how I wasn't the one pulling the trigger I was totally guilt-free, there was no need for guilt.

Luna gave me a hug from the side and shot me a smile.

{Justice.} She shared her own thoughts on the matter.

Not feeling like eating anymore, I put the dish with pancakes away underneath my bed.

"Everyone inside got killed," Barry said with a defeated tone.

"So what? They deserved it," Chelsea shrugged. "Remember the dead guy we found? This is just karma."

"Got to agree with her on this one," I said and gave Barry a serious look. "We did what we could, it would be unreasonable to expect more and start doubting ourselves."

"I guess so," Barry mumbled.

He shivered. "Just the thought that we could have died if we had stayed a little longer."

"Mhfm," Chelsea tried to say something but discovered that eating and talking don't go along very well. She swallowed and said, "That's life."

Very pragmatic of her, yesterday she sounded way more uncomfortable. But that counts for everyone I guess.

Barry and Chelsea continued their breakfast while I silently checked different news sites and message boards online.

Despite what the reporter had said, the Shine was not the only news in Sinnoh. World wide people have experienced the consequences of the aura explosion.

"I think I should pack my stuff," Barry suddenly got up, "We don't want to be late."

He raced out of the room, leaving his plate on my bed.

Chelsea had apparently nothing better to do because she watched as I cleaned up the room and put everything in my backpack.

I stacked up all the plates and left them next to the door. I could leave them on the bed but I preferred to leave my room as clean as possible so I wouldn't look like a jerk.

When I was finally done I went to the Riolu meditating on her lonesome spot in the corner.

"Ready to go Fay?" I asked.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

She lazily opened one eye. "I suppose."

With a heavy sigh she got up and a swift kick launched the pillow back onto the bed.

"Are you coming too?" I rhetorically asked the girl who had done nothing to help me clean the room.

She stifled a yawn. "Sure, I'll leave my stuff in my room. Still have some business to do in Jubilife city."

Luna teleported onto my head and pulled on a hairlock.

"Yeah yeah, I'm going."

We left the room and I found Barry waiting outside, backpack strapped to his back and an annoyed look on his face. "Come on, we're running out of time."

"It's not like a date." I rolled my eyes. "Looker won't die if we are a minute later."

Barry and I checked out and we left the Pokémon Center.

Chelsea took her Pokédex and opened a map.

The sun was shining happily down on the city, leaving no trace of the storm that had transpired yesterday evening.

People went on with their lives like normal, the Starly still managed to find food in the junk people threw away and people greeted each other like they always did.

But there was something different.

It was all so fake, like everyone pretended everything was bright.

The Shine only destroyed one building yet people and Pokémon knew it was a mark of something bigger coming this way. The people in this world are aware of the fact that life is fragile and the world could end in a not so distant future.

But compared to most other regions Sinnoh was relatively peaceful. It was common knowledge, Kanto has the organized crime and Galar had the giant Pokémon causing havoc. Both Johto and Hoenn are basically time bombs and nothing ever happens in Alola.

Sinnoh doesn't have a lot of history with big crises which are kind of ironic considering the Creation Trio.

There are smaller threats in Sinnoh but never as bad in the other regions.

And people instinctively knew that their fake sense of safety might not last forever.

Or maybe I was reading into it too much, I love dramatics after all.

"Yup, should be here." Chelsea stopped in front of a small bakery. Or atleast the sign said it was. It was built between two big office buildings that looked very expensive.

"Never say Looker doesn't have a sweet tooth."

A wonderful smell met my nose and my stomach groaned.

"And now I regret having breakfast."

{Smelly.} Luna drooled and I put her down.

"Nah ah, you just had pancakes," I scolded the little psychic.

Luna tried to use her secret puppy eyes technique but it failed since I was too distracted.

I crossed the street and entered the bakery.

It was a pretty cozy bakery with a big counter displaying all kinds of sweets, ranging from cake to muffins and bread.

A girl with red hair in a high ponytail greeted us with a cheeky smile. "Good morning, what can I do for you?"

"They're with me," a voice came from the right.

Where the left side was just a normal shop the right side was designed like a brasserie, looking cozy as well with a big couch that ran from one side of the wall to the other with square tables that could be moved if one wanted to.

Looker sat in the corner seat, holding a big mug filled with a black substance and a short baguette.

He took a bite and gestured at us to sit down.

Being anti-social as always, Fay took it upon herself to sit away from me while Luna sat in my lap.

Chelsea sat next to me on the comfy couch while Barry was forced to take the chair.

"Can I bring you something?" the girl asked, smiling so cutely it had to be contagious.

"Black tea please," I answered.

"Water," Barry replied impatiently.

"Lemon soda," Chelsea grinned.

"And you two?" She turned to my two Pokémon.

Fay shook her head while Luna pointed at Barry,

The girl smiled brightly, "I'll bring it to you in a sec."

She left and disappeared behind the counter.

"Good morning Looker, had a good night's rest?" I asked him with a sarcastic smile since it was clear he hadn't slept at all. His hair was a mess and he smelled.

"Good to see you three in one piece," Looker nodded, ignoring my snark.

"Ah, did you worry?" Chelsea smiled.

"I did, in fact," Looker said seriously. "When you didn't react to my calls I was starting to worry."

I opened the Pokédex and saw the messages Looker was referring to.

Multiple messages had been waiting in my inbox and multiple missed calls.

I had seen them yesterday evening after we had teleported out and all of them told me to abort the mission and teleport away.

By accident we had done that but not because we knew it was dangerous, more because Luna knew shit was going down.

The time stamps told me that something inside the building must have prevented the calls from actually reaching us, my guess it was the aura storm messing with electronics.

The girl came back to our table holding a tray with all our drinks.

She put it down and gave us once again a big smile. "If you need anything else you can just say it."

"Just put it on my tab." Looker didn't return the smile.

I noticed it was very quiet inside the bakery, no one besides us was sitting in the lounge.

Luna took her glass of water and started drinking from the blue straw that was included. To her delight, a small paper umbrella was clipped to the glass. Her eyes grew wider and she began drinking it with a smug smile.

"So how did you actually know it was about to explode?" Barry asked as he took a sip from his umbrella-less glass.

"An Absol showed up out of nowhere." Looker said like it was the most common thing in the world. As normal as rain.

I blinked. "You're kidding me."

"No, an Absol did show up and started scaring the police officers that surrounded the building."

He sighed, "That was enough reason for me to abort the mission."

"Well we are all alive and still kicking," I grinned, "Did you find anything interesting?"

Looker gave me a pained look. "Considering how all the evidence is literally missing, not a lot. I’ll have to find the plot in the gaps left behind. I think we are really lucky that you atleast manage to find something."

"I didn't really figure out anything," I admitted.

And it was true, I had no idea what the eggs contained and what Team Galactic wanted to do with them. Educated guesses? Yeah, but no hard facts. Everyone inside the building was supposedly killed but it didn't feel like a victory to me. In the ashes of the Shine all there was left to claim was defeat.

"You got more information than anyone else could get, including me." Looker gave me the tiniest smile. "I interrogated one of the grunts but he couldn't tell me anything useful except that he would rather die than talk."

"Eh, talk about irony." Chelsea quipped.

"And have you recovered the eggs?" I asked Looker.

He shook his head. "Not a shell left, either both got destroyed or we need to prepare ourselves for the next crisis."

"Is it that bad?" Barry frowned.

"The Shine," Looker air quoted, "has larger consequences, I fear. Absol all over the world have displayed concerning behavior and 4 confirmed Legendary class Pokémon have reacted to the events in Jubilife City. Including Groudon who has stirred in his sleep and the worst part,"

He rubbed his eyes.

"There's no evidence leading towards Team Galactic considering everything has blown up."

"Seems like you'll be quite busy."

"You don't even know half of it." He said with a grim tone, "Now let's pray that their plan failed and that the eggs are gone."

I somehow doubted that.