Chapter 27: Ruins and Runes

Adjusting the straps on her backpack, Illya looked out over the impossibly large mountain that dominated the center of Sinnoh, marveling at just how big it was not for the first time. Mentally reminding herself that it was quite likely that a being equivalent to a God had sculpted all the land in Garde and that such sights should bring awe to her for what felt like the hundredth time, the Einzbern Homunculus turned towards her younger brother. “Shirou, do you think that Regigigas was the one who made Coronet?”

“That’s what the legends say. Well, some of them,” Shirou responded as he looked up at the snow-clad peak. “There’s others that say Arceus made it first, and something about Groudon, and…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Even in a world where gods are known to exist, people don’t know all the answers.”

Isabella snorted. “I’m more wondering how you two managed to miss entering Coronet until now. It’s in the way of everything– most folks have gone through it at least once or twice by this point on their journey.”

Shrugging, Illya waved aside the question. “It’s not really relevant right now. It was mostly an idle curiosity anyway.” Pausing, she looked up to where Ritsuka was circling in a lazy orbit around the group, keeping an eye out for any passing Pokemon, trainers, or other potential threats or opportunities. “Either way, we should get going. We have places to be, and we want to make it to the lodge we’re aiming for with daylight to spare.”

“We should make it in time,” Yagi said as he peered ahead, the trail looping through the trees. “The times in the guidebook were for sedentary tourists, not locals and superhumans. I think I walked this section of the trail a few years back, actually. It took me eight hours then; it should take a bit less for us.”

“That might be true, Yagi,” Shirou interjected calmly. “But Illya is accounting for unexpected delays, so she’s not exactly wrong.” Pausing for a second, he looked at his watch and winced. “Especially since it’s already ten, and it’s not exactly a good idea to be out past sunset in Coronet.”

“Or a great idea. Depends on how much fun you want to have,” Fafnir rumbled as they headed up the slope. “Well, fun until you run into a pack of angry ice-types. Sneasels can be nice, but if they’re in a bad mood, well…”

Isabella hummed as they topped a small crest, peering ahead at the tunnel visible in the rock up ahead. “You know, after our little vigilante mission, I’ve been thinking I might want to train up and expand my team. A Sneasel of either variant might be nice. What do you guys think?” Her new translation earring, received in trade from a greedy black-haired magus for a scavenged fire stone, glittered in the bright sunlight.

Matilda mewled from her trainer’s side. “I mean, you have the foundations of a good team already. And right now, we all have even teams!” She looked back at her trainer. “Speaking of expanding teams, what’re you thinking, my lady?”

Opening her mouth to answer that ‘of course she had plenty of ideas’ Illya paused, thinking of her encounters with all her Pokemon and how all of them had seemingly just clicked together, as if they were meant to be. “I think that we should continue to just build on what we have, Matilda. I’d like to focus on helping Feebas evolve for now.”

“She’s getting there, I think. It’s interesting that their evolution is more… psychosomatic? Is that the right word?” Matilda hummed as they approached the first of the cave passages which would lead them down the mountain. “As a handmaiden, she is already a pretty addition to our court; I look forward to when she evolves.”

Ritsuka flared her wings as she came in for a landing, feet gaining traction as she slid to a stop. “The tunnel entrance is right up ahead, but I see a couple of rangers hanging around near the entrance. I don’t think there’s trouble, but I don’t believe it's normal.”

“There’s an easy way to find out,” Isabella muttered, whipping out her phone and messing around with it for a few seconds. Humming to herself, she powered it off and put it back in her pocket. “Huh, apparently a group of diggers have settled too close to the normal route. There’s a ranger warning telling people to either take a longer tunnel, or if they’re skilled, take a hilltop hike. I think we have the time and strength to handle either, so… your call.”

Looking towards Shirou, Illya shrugged. “Tunnels or hilltop, little brother. Your call. I don’t particularly mind either way, though I’m sure Ritsuka might appreciate not being in a cave again.”

“You can say that again. I haven’t gotten to spread my wings while traveling for a while,” the Dragoness chirped in agreement. “Shirrouuuu?”

“I can tell when I’m outnumbered. Overtop, then.” Shirou peered ahead as they neared the tunnel entrance. “Hello there! We were planning to take this route, but we’ll go outside instead. Which way to the hiking trail?”

The two rangers both blinked. “Huh. Depends, are you heading north, east, or south?”

“South towards Hearthome.”

“Oof. Heading to the Ginkgo Mountain Lodge?” The ranger winced. “If you’re set on going overland, I think you’re in for a long trek. The nearest climb up to that level of Coronet is a few hours south–”

“Hang on, isn’t there an old trail a little north? They could head up that. Not like there aren’t signposts and the old roads they could follow.” Their partner spoke up.

“That route’s not patrolled,” the first ranger said, then shot an evaluating look over the group, eyes lingering on the Gabite. “...though they might be able to handle it. Do you all have emergency beacons and some way to launch Flashes?”

“We do, sir,” Illya answered politely. “Are there any particular known dangers on that route?”

“No, though as I said, it hasn’t been patrolled or checked in a while,” the man replied. “If you’re used to the wilderness, you shouldn’t have much trouble with wild Pokemon; and we’re not due another space-time fuckup for a couple months, if that,” he said. “Just be prudent, and use your beacons if you get in over your heads. Our patrol station is nearby, they’ll have a Staraptor to you in a couple of minutes.”

Shirou nodded. “Hope we won’t have to bother you. Thank you for the directions. Ritsuka, take off and spot us the path; we need to keep moving.” The group quickly headed north, cutting across a little-traveled pokemon trail along the cliffside.

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Several switchbacks and short climbs later, Shirou looked at Ritsuka as she landed once again, frowning. “And you’re sure there’s a storm coming? The day was supposed to be clear.”

“Positive. It’s coming down off the mountain itself; looks like a hard downpour, we should find cover or end up soaked,” she replied grimly.

Pulling out her phone, Illya glanced at the GPS, before nodding to herself firmly. “We’ve made good time. We can afford to find a cave to shelter in. We can even use it as an early dinner.”

“I suppose I’m on cave spotting duty?” At Shirou’s nod, Ritsuka flared her wings. “Right. For now, head southeast; there’s a peak over that way, and a good chance of some caves over there. I’ll guide you in when I find something viable that won’t flood.” She took off once again, and the group began to advance quickly towards the south, picking their way through the sparse mountain woods.

Isabella sighed as she vaulted a fallen tree, disturbing a group of Caterpie from their foraging. “Kinda wish we’d taken the tunnel route now,” she groused, pulling her hood back up. “I’m not looking forward to battling for a dry spot, or getting caught in the rain.”

“Battle?” Shirou asked, before slapping his own head as he jogged. “Right. Anything big enough to hide out in would be claimed by a Pokemon or two.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason why any new construction outside city limits needs full Ranger approval. For Pokemons’ sakes, and ours. Nothing like a new dam collapsing because you built it atop a Diglett cave complex, or accidentally flooding a Goodra hood’s nesting grounds.” Isabella chuckled. “Thank the Three for Warden Ingo; he knew all the ways to treat with the locals when building the rails.”

Further commentary ended as Ritsuka came in for a landing, tail thrashing. “Storm’s coming in quickly, but I found a cave. Looks like one which recently got uncovered by a sinkhole; we should be able to stay dry there.”

Looking towards the ever darkening sky with a beady eye, Illya nodded, “Alright. Lead us there, Ritsuka.” Nodding back, the dragoness leapt back into the sky and took wing, ever so briefly ‘stumbling’ in midair as the wind began to pick up. Before any of them could think to be concerned, however, the Wyrmeon stabilized herself and continued forward, leading the group of travelers forward. As they jogged, following Shirou’s starter, Illya couldn’t help but notice that they were being led far off the well traveled trail onto what appeared to be some sort of game trail; likely left by the non-Pokemon residents of Mount Coronet.

Not exactly that it was such a horrible thing to experience, of course, but it was something that she would have to take note of, especially given how focused the other Pokemon and Humans in her group seemed to be on simply getting out of the open before the rain came pouring down. After all, once you got off the beaten path that were the routes maintained by the various pacts across various Regions, you had a lot less protections from the Wilds than otherwise; and Illya absolutely did not want to deal with a kidnapping like Sakura and Rin apparently had, thank you very much.

Before she could stumble further down that rabbit hole, however, Ritsuka once more landed amongst them, shaking herself off. “Alright, we’re close. I checked the cave a bit more closely, and it’s currently empty, and has none of the scent marks that indicate that it’d be claimed by any mammalian Pokemon. Since I can’t see or sense any of the other markers we’ve read about, I’m going to assume we got an extremely lucky break.” Pausing to pant a bit, the Eeveelution continued her train of thought. “But there’s something odd about the cave. It’s a lot deeper than I thought it would be, and there’s some things that look like they could be ruins, but they also don’t match any of the cultures that lived in Sinnoh; at least, based on the photos that Cynthia and Grandma showed us.”

“Not important right now! Come on, get in and we can look at the mystery later,” Isabella replied over the rising wind as it howled past her and into the open air, fat raindrops splattering around her as she slid down the short slope into the cave. The siblings and their Pokemon followed her, ducking to fit into the small cleft and entering the darkness within.

Illya flicked her fingers, an orb of pinkish light illuminating her face as the patter of raindrops outside abruptly shifted to a loud drumming. “Alright, we’re out of the rain. Everyone alright?”

“Of course, My Lady.”

“Not even wet!”

“Indeed!”

“I’m good, nee-san.”

“I’m alright over here, Illya.”

Nodding as all of her companions - at least, those that were not resting in their balls - sounded off, Illya concentrated, pushing more magical energy into the small orb of light she had transmuted, brightening the illumination significantly. Pausing to briefly look around the cave, or rather, cavern, she looked outside and blanched. “We’re going to need to hunker down for the rest of the day, and possibly the night. I don’t think this downpour will be letting up. I’ll get to work transmuting some stone to firewood. Shirou, can you start setting up camp? There should be plenty of space. Ritsuka, Matilda, you two are on watch. Isabella, if you could help Shirou?”

“Got it. Shirou–”

The young man had his phone out, tapping away. “I’m just going to move our reservations back a day. Also, Illya, I have an electric heater in my bag and some heat rocks. Don’t waste your energy transmuting anything.” He waved, sliding his phone back into a pocket. “I know there’s no signs, but go ahead and make certain there’s not a colony of Zubats or something in here. The last thing we need is to be pooped on at sunset.”

“Not every problem can be solved by magic, my lady. Come, let’s go take a look at those ruins my sibling mentioned,” Matilda chimed in, leading the slightly pouting girl deeper into the cave. “Ritsuka, show us the way?”

“Sure. Come on, I saw them back here…” Ritsuka trotted past, tail waving as she walked in front of the girl and her partner.

“Didn’t I put you on guard duty?” Illya muttered sourly.

“Of course, we’re guarding you.” Matilda said. “Fafnir and Yagi can protect Shirou, and Isabella’s team is right there as well.”

“... I meant to guard the entrance,” Illya enunciated slowly. “We’re setting up camp. Not exploring. Setting up. Exploring can come later when we’ve eaten our early dinner and figured out how long this rainstorm will last.”

“Understood. Ritsuka, come along,” Matilda said, pivoting to follow Illya back to the front of the cave.

Ritsuka grumbled. “Guard duty. Guard from what? Unless there’s a group of water types up this high in the mountains, nothing’s going to come from outside,” she groused as she turned around and followed them.

“Listen to Illya, Ritsuka. Even if we make the lodge tonight, we’ll be getting there after dinner. Might as well make it an early dinner,” Shirou said as he dropped the heat rocks into a pot of water. “It’s going to be simple fare tonight,” he added apologetically as Fubuki and Isabella set up tents on the dry dirt to one side of the camp stools he’d set up.

Illya shook her head. “It can’t be helped. But,” she paused, whipping out her phone and jotting a note for herself down, “Why aren’t you using the propane stove? It’d do in place of a campfire.”

“I’m not using the stove because I don’t want to risk suffocation, Illya. We’re in an enclosed space, and even with magic, better not risk carbon monoxide poisoning.” He motioned at the low entrance. “I have some cold meals and packaged meats I can serve up with just boiled water, so let’s stick with that.”

“I could just set up an airflow…” Illya muttered, tugging one of her locks consideringly.

“Don’t tear your hair out over this, Illya. Nothing wrong with a night of less comfort than normal. Beats some of the evenings I spent on my own before I joined up with you guys,” Isabella quipped. “I wonder what Donovan’s doing?”

Shirou glanced at his phone. “According to his Smeargram, he’s overnighting at a rail station. No one’s going anywhere in this weather, and the storm’s supposed to last until midnight.”

“So we’re spending the night here,” Illya acknowledged as Shirou slid some sealed packages of fish into the boiling water. “Better than being out in the storm.”

The drumming of the rain quickly muted any conversation, and everyone simply took some time to think and relax as the fish cooked, only Feebas happily leaving the cave while the meal was prepared. The fish returned as Shirou doled out the sous-vide fish over rice, happily accepting her own portion. “If there’s one thing I love about this group, it’s the utter lack of Pokechow.”

“It’s… edible. Not great, but you can live off it,” Yagi acknowledged, forking some rice into his mouth. “Humans can eat it too, I think.”

“I’ve not tried it, but it sounds better than starving. I never got that hungry as a wild Pokemon, but it’s nice to know where your next meal will come from,” Fubuki acknowledged. “It was just a few moons ago that I would’ve been hiding out in a cave like this, hoping the rain would stop.”

“Not something any of you need to worry about anymore,” Isabella said, patting Growlithe’s head. “Not so long as you have us.”

Illya thought back on lonely nights in a dark castle, at first waiting for rescue, later waiting for a chance at revenge. “...it’s nice to have others around.” She said softly, as everyone dug into their bowls before it cooled too much.

Shirou, ever the cook, finally blinked as he looked up from the water he was setting aside, “Yagi, you do realize you’re talking about store-brand Poke-chow, which is essentially the same thing as an MRE, right? Actual cuisine for Pokemon does exist, and tends to agree with certain Pokemon more, especially those with non-human dietary needs. The reason I can get away with just making one meal for now is because none of us have Pokemon with unique dietary requirements that don’t just require eating what most humans consider a normal diet. I do have to cook a lot though.”

“I mean, I’d say it’s more like enriched hardtack. Real MREs come with candy,” Yagi muttered petulantly, drawing some odd looks from the others at the fire. “I’ve had both. The chow when I needed to save money after… erm. Buying a selection of ancient training scrolls which turned out to be… not. And the MRE during a couple of field expeditions with my old sensei. Avoid anything with hotdogs.” He said grimly.

Blinking, Shirou nodded, “... You’ve had a rather eventful life, haven’t you, Yagi.”

“I have, yosh!” The Riolu sent out a thumbs up. “You must remember, unlike the siblings, I did not pop out of thin air fully formed. I am fifteen years old, and that has left plenty of room–”

“Wait, you’re fifteen?” Shirou asked incredulously.

Matilda and Ritsuka both spoke as one. “Oolllddd….”

“Yosh! I am not old!” Yagi responded insistently.

“He isn’t.” Illya nodded sagely, “After all, the Riolu Line have comparable lifespans to humans.”

Fubuki sniggered. “Still, it is a little strange, that you act so… chuuni, at your age.”

“I am enthusiastic about life! Better than being too serious, anyway,” Yagi protested, leading to another round of teasing as the group finished up their meals, Isabella and Yagi assigned to dish duty with some good-natured groaning. As the others began to break down the cooking area, Illya looked towards the back of the cave, brow furrowed.

It was so tempting, oh so tempting, to go and hunt around what had to be a fairly recently uncovered ruin, but, well… There were several problems with that. One, she wasn’t an archeologist. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to properly exploring these ruins, and, while perhaps in the past she wouldn’t have cared about that, right now, she had a big sister figure who she was slowly starting to accept as a proper sister that would be disappointed if Illya looked through these ruins without taking the proper precautions. Precautions she wasn’t sure she could take…

Pausing, the snow-haired girl’s palm met her face. Right, she could just call Cynthia. Whipping out her smartphone, she carefully turned the flash off and took a picture of the odd looking ruins dotting the back of the cave, sending the image towards her big sister before dialing her number. It went straight to voicemail as expected; given Cynthia was busy during the day, especially in an evening like this, she’d done her due diligence, and how she just had to wait for a quick response-

Her device chirped.

in meeting
done soon
Can ask Lucian for teleport

If y, will b there in 30

Illya smiled slightly as she saw the text. “Okay, Cynthia will be here soon. This time, we can wait for her. Ritsuka, do we need to be cautious back there?”

“Not as far as I could tell. I didn’t smell anything, didn’t sense any magic. This isn’t like with the Spiritomb; it’s just old stuff in a cave,” the dragon murmured.

“No need to stand guard, then.” Illya sat back down, relaxing as she renewed the light from her candlelight spell, shifting it from bright white to a ruddy orange for ambiance.

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The group was expecting Cynthia to arrive in a flash of light, which made it all the stranger when the Champion ducked into the cave sopping wet. She grimaced as she saw the lack of firelight before releasing her Milotic. “Wick if off, that’s a dear.” Wringing out the fur edges of her dress, she looked around the room. “Good to see you all well. Is this going to be a habit, finding stuff like this?”

“Good to see you! Though, sorry you had to get wet.” Illya spun a quick spell as she stood up, wrapping Cynthia in a waft of warm air as Milotic pulled away the water. “I thought you’d teleport straight to us.”

“If I’d been here before, I could’ve asked Bronzong to read the location from my mind. As it was, I teleported to the nearest ranger station, and from there I rode in on Togekiss.” Cynthia explained. “Okay, dry now, mind on ruins. What’d you find?”

“I don’t know yet. Since these aren’t trying to kill us or are in danger, I figured it’d be best to wait for you.” Illya said, summoning a second light as she began to walk back to the rear.

“Thank you for thinking of me.” She replied. “First, we need to get some good lighting…”

Illya nodded as she peered into the gloom. “Hmm. In that case…” Remembering what Isabella said about her hair, she instead cupped her hands, feeling the heat within grow. “Sternenlicht!” she spoke, a small star erupting from her hands to hang over her head, the golden light blasting back the shadows. The advancing light revealed a shifting tapestry of colors, the eyes of both pale-haired women widening as they beheld the sight.

The walls of the cavern were positively covered in what appeared to be carefully carved panels, each of them inscribed with some sort of language that Illya didn’t recognize, though, given the sharp intake of breath from both Ritsuka and Matilda, both of the Eeveelutions within their group did. Returning to the panels for a second, each of them appeared to be around the size of a particularly large painting, and each was filled almost to the brim with that strange text. Honestly, the more Illya looked at it, the more it appeared to her that each was a stylized footprint… Specifically the footprints of various Pokemon.

And yet, that wasn’t even the most impressive part of the display arrayed before them. In the center of all the panels carved into the very walls of the cavern, there was a painted mural preserved in perfect condition. There were three key points of interest within the painting itself, and it seemed to capture the moment of two heroes standing against what appeared to be some sort of conglomeration of darkness, with an extremely large tree painted in the background.

Honestly, the painting itself wasn’t all that impressive, nor was the story that was told on the walls of the cavern. No, what Illya deemed most impressive about this all was how well preserved it all was. As if it had been carved just yesterday, without the ravages of time wearing away at it at all.

She wanted to know how this had been so perfectly preserved, to be honest.

“...I recognize those runes, but only as a few scattered pieces,” Cynthia murmured. “Never so many at once…” She walked forward, eyes fixed on the panels. “But I recognize the method used to make this place. A method of casting raw elemental power into stone, making them like gems…I’ve only seen the like as made by Legendaries.”

“My lady, set up a translation spell, please.” As soon as Illya spun up the spell, Matilda continued. “Can you read the words, Champion?”

“No. Not without a translation guide, and even then there will be gaps.” Cynthia admitted as Shriou and the rest of the group walked over to view the sights. “Pokemon writing has always been more obscure than human, at least among modern scholarship.”

“I recognize the script, though I don’t understand it myself,”  Matilda admitted. “A rather interesting Eeveelution, the only Primeon, was hunting for photos or even artifacts bearing that script. Not necessarily only that script either.” Pausing, she looked to Ritsuka, who nodded, taking up the explanation.

“Mana was hunting for information on heroes mentioned in various oral traditions across the various regions. She was offering quite an absurd bounty on it too, though, naturally, she’s only spread that information via word of mouth. On that note. Illya, Shirou, Champion. If you would not mind, could we get a comprehensive photography of this site to send her way? While neither of us have fully forgiven her, the money is far too useful to pass up, and, frankly, their misstep was an understandable one.” 

“I…” Illya sighed. “Misora was pretty apologetic… and Akari did keep her word on danegeld,” she admitted, pulling out her camera and began taking pictures. “Shirou…”

“On it,” the boy said, pulling out his own device and running it over the area.

Cynthia had pulled out her own recording equipment, her Spiritomb popping out of a Pokeball and holding up an additional pair of devices. “...I’m not certain if we even can move these panels, much less if we should. Recording everything is vital.” She stopped Shirou before he stepped too far into the cavern. “Does anyone see anything on the floor, any artifacts? This may have been a shrine or tomb; no need to trample any offerings.”

“Not seeing anything on the floor, and not sensing anything in it.” Fafnir tapped her claw against the ground. “If there were any offerings, they may have withered into dust or were washed away.”

“All too likely…” Cynthia peered at the mural as she carefully stepped into the chamber. “Two figures… Delphox… and one… is that Mew?” She paused. “Or a Mew, there’s some debate on that. I can’t think of any legends involving Mew that still exist. Is this a relic of a time where they were a more populous species?” She looked at the darkness both heroes were facing. “And what is that? The rest is so clear, it can’t just be metaphorical…”

“... It vaguely reminds me of something that Mana was talking about when we were having a conversation with her, but I can’t exactly recall-” Ritsuka began, only to be interrupted; Illya’s phone was ringing.

Blinking at the caller ID, Illya rolled her eyes and accepted, putting it on speaker mode before holding it out in front of her, “Hello, this is Illyasviel von Eiznbern speaking, how can I help you, Miss Misora?”

“Mana just about gave me a heart attack when she barged into my room to demand I call you immediately, Miss Einzbern. Evidently, I’m also to transfer a rather hefty sum to your Sylveon and Mister Emiya’s Wyrmeon. Something about happening across the best preserved example of one of the epics she obsesses over,” The ACE trainer explained, sounding more than a little exhausted. “Since it’s likely aura tricks won’t translate all that well across a phone line I’ll have to translate, so if you have time to answer some of her questions, would you mind giving me some of your time?”

“Well, Cynthia– yes, the champion, but right now she’s wearing her archaeologist hat– is wondering about the darkness.” Illya peered at the mural, and shuddered slightly as something twinged in her own soul– not painfully, but in recognition. “Considering we’re chosen of a sort, is that darkness going to be a problem for any of us later?”

A slight delay, likely as Misora interpreted what her starter was saying, before she answered, “No. The Sublimation of Negativity, more commonly known as the Dark Matter but also sometimes called All the World’s Evil physically cannot ever remanifest.” Pausing, a rather annoyed growl was heard in the background before Misora continued, “Mana’s also saying that all of this is essentially ancient history; stuff that happened during the era of lost records; ask Cynthia what that is. She’ll know what it is better than I do, and Mana would unironically wring my neck if I tried to explain it poorly, so I won’t.”

“I’ve been listening, actually,” Cynthia said, turning back to them with a smile. “The era of lost records is actually a hotly debated topic, since if it were not for Legendaries, we would simply call it prehistory. It is the time between the creation of the world and the beginning of any reputable written or recorded historical accounts.”

“Mana says that’s just because the archeological community, well, and apparently the historical community still refuses to accept both oral accounts passed down by Pokemon communities and Footprint Runes as valid historical records,” The ACE trainer chimed in. “She apparently has been building quite the collection behind my back. Silly Vee, I would have supported you if I’d known about your obsession, idiot.” Once more, a rather annoyed yowl sounded in the background, and, as Cynthia went to respond, the sounds of a minor scuffle broke out across the call.

“We do accept them! Well, modern scholars. There are still a lot of old fogies who believe Pokemon translation is a scam,” the Champion of Sinnoh admitted reluctantly. “And even many who do believe want more evidence before they try to ‘sell it’ to the masses.” She shrugged. “I don’t see the problem in putting out incomplete evidence, so long as you state it as such.”

There was silence for a good thirty seconds before finally, someone answered from the other side, “Either way, Illya, Shirou, I’ve sent you the bounty that my Primeon promised you. It should be arriving in the accounts your Pokemon designated to receive them within three business days, so enjoy that. Expect me to call you again at a better time, when I’ve not been woken up from a rather nice dream by my overly excited partner. Champion Cynthia, Mana would like to continue her debate with you, but would rather do so in person. If you have time, I have a team member capable of performing long-ranged teleportations, so simply specify a meetup point.”

“I’d be happy to speak with your partner in person,” Cynthia said. “I may have to schedule another day, of course. Work comes first.” She paused,then her stance shifted. “And it might go a little long. I’ve heard good things about you from Diantha; I’d love to have a match with you.””

Coughing, Illya interjected, “You two can schedule your battle on your own time! Regardless, thank you, Miss Misora…” Pausing, Illya sighed, “You’re also forgiven. Fully. I’ve had a chat with my Pokemon and Shirou about it, and especially given the context I dug up, I can’t even say I blame you.”

“... Hmm, I suppose that incident was public, wasn’t it. Well, regardless, Miss Eiznbern, I appreciate your forgiveness and understanding. Please inform your brother that Astolfo still hasn’t forgiven himself. Not that, of course, I am in any way trying to make this your brother or his Pokemon’s fault. I just figured he’d appreciate knowing. He seems to be the type.” And, with that, the call died, the line cut from the other side.

With that in mind, Illya turned back to the cavern and its mural. “...if the darkness isn’t going to be an issue, this isn’t the start of a quest. I wonder why we chanced upon it, then?”

“The One above works in mysterious ways, sometimes. Though this legend may be over, the lessons learned from it may be vital to us,” Fubuki intoned. “...was that spooky enough? Still learning how to be a proper ghost type.”

“Ehhhh. Five out of ten. Would have been a seven point eight of ten if the lighting was right though,” Ritsuka critiqued, wiggling her paw from side to side. “I think that it should be a bit less mysterious and a bit more ominous. Unless you’re going for Eldritch Horror. Then you need to ratchet up the unknowable by a factor of about a hundred.”

As the two devolved into quiet snark, Illya shook her head. Whatever Arceus had planned, they’d be ready for it.

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“...you know, I forgot my cousin made that. Nice of you to push those kids into finding it; always nice to have family remembered well,” Mew mused as she watched the albino girl grin ferally on the widescreen scrying crystal.

Beside her, Arceus just blinked slowly as he watched events unfold.

“...you forgot about it too, didn’t you.”

I did, yes. This was not supposed to happen. Then again, I’m not controlling anything about their journeys at this point. The deity shrugged. I mean, I may have a job for them later, but only if they agree to it. Fate and destiny did not work as I’d hoped.

“You still have Chosen, though.”

Most of them would get involved anyway. I just… arm them properly for the trials they may face. But these children are guests, and should be treated with more care. Their father, on the other hand… well, he’s happy to be a weapon, Arceus said. And if he remembers how to be more in the process, all the better.