LazArtei

“And everyone’s ready to depart? Including you?”

“Yes, Ingo; everyone’s ready!”

“Excellent!” Ingo’s ever-present frown did nothing to dampen the high spirits evident in his voice, shouldering the bag he had just finished double-checking. “Seems we’re ready to leave the station ahead of schedule, but an early departure is not a bad thing.”

Ingo moved to slide back the door of the dojo, which had previously been cracked open. Early morning light filtered into the room as the warden stepped out after Akari, to address the circle of Jubilife Village children gathered around the training grounds; large packs accompanied them as well, whether strapped to their backs or slumped at their feet.

“Now!” Ingo spoke up, catching the attention of any kids who didn’t initially turn their heads to see him stepping out. “Welcome aboard passengers, I understand everyone is ready for departure, and I trust everyone has prepared adequately for today’s trip!”

The group of five village kids, tired as they were so early in the morning, seemed to wake up slightly with Ingo’s enthusiasm.

“However, before we leave the station, I’d like to go over our set rules one last time; safety is of utmost importance! Now first, should you ever find yourself separated from…”

As Ingo bored the village tweens going through the set of rules and regulations that they’d surely heard twenty times over by this point, Akari made her way over to Rei and Zisu. The two of them were standing by the training grounds’ fence, with packed bags of their own on their backs. Pikachu was perched atop Rei’s shoulder, greedily eyeing an oran berry that he was absentmindedly munching on.

“I bet they’ll be able to recite all of Ingo’s rules word-for-word soon,” Akari whispered to Rei as she came up beside him, nudging his arm with her elbow.

“Not even Cyllene repeated them this many times,” He laughed over a mouthful of oran berry. “Though he’s not being nearly as stern as she was, I remember it scared one of the potential recruits off before we even left for the site!”

Akari had heard bits and pieces of Rei mentioning last year’s trip. It was known that the entirety of Jubilife Village worked under the Galaxy Team, with the population working amongst the different corps. Many children often started work around the age of ten or so, picking a division to follow in order to serve the village. They usually stuck with their chosen paths too, enjoying them well and providing good work for their corps as they grew into more age-appropriate jobs.

…All of them that was, except for the survey corps.

A pattern was becoming apparent where tweens would initially be excited to join the survey corps, the only unit of work that consistently allowed them outside the confining village walls they were becoming tired of. However, a few days of such exploration and training often resulted in the fresh members quickly begging for a new position within another corps unit behind the walls of the village, unable to deal with the wild Pokémon that roamed about.

Reassignment was often difficult, and it sometimes even came down to Kamado having to swap out reluctant adults to even the work out, which everyone involved hated. So last fall, the commander had decided to start up a trip for young kids at the village who showed even the smallest amount of interest in joining the Galaxy Team’s survey corps units.

As captain of the survey corps, Cyllene had led the first group of recruits down to the mirelands to set up camp; they’d get to spend a day and a night in the wilderness, learn about the wild Pokémon that roam and how to deal with them, and general techniques about thriving in the field - things expected and required of a good survey corps member, and all under the care of an experienced adult. It was meant to show them what kind of work the unit would ask of them, before they made an official decision that they might end up regretting.

The first trip out had apparently been a bad experience though; none of the kids who participated ended up enlisting for the survey corps unit, and not even Cyllene agreed to do it again this year…which was why Ingo was instead going in her place. The captain had requested the warden to be her substitute this year with Zisu, apparently stating her work at the Galaxy Hall was too important to leave at this time, and his skill level with Pokémon made him a valuable addition to the trip.

Akari was happy Ingo was going with them, as she was ordered to go on the trip as well along with Rei (Kamado had requested their inclusion, stating their close age with the potential recruits might be “inspiring”, and that they really needed the trip to leave a good impression this year) but it did make her wonder…why did Cyllene insist on such high security this time around?

“Yeah, about that…” Akari kept her eyes on Ingo as he went on with his rules, oblivious to one of the village kids beginning to nod off. “You both went on the last trip, right? What happened last time? Why won’t Cyllene go back? Was it really bad?”

“I, well…I don’t really know.” Rei shrugged, inadvertently nudging Pikachu back as he attempted to sneakily reach for Rei’s oran berry. “She won’t talk about it. I just remember everyone waking up to her shouting in the middle of the night, far from our campsite. When we got to her, her abra had been knocked out, and she was, well…”

“She was fine, but she honestly looked like she had seen a ghost,” Zisu recalled, picking up where Rei had trailed off. “Everyone thought she had been dragged off, what with all of the marks covering the ground, but she wouldn’t confirm anything. Whatever happened, seeing the captain out of sorts like that terrified everyone else enough to scare them away from the survey corps. They all ended up turning to the supply corps, or the agriculture corps... everyone that was, except for Rei here! He was the only one of his age who ended up joining last year!”

Zisu clapped Rei on the back as she praised him, the bag he was shouldering doing nothing to lessen the blow.

“Yeah, well-“ Akari’s colleague almost dropped the half-eaten oran berry in his hand as he was knocked forward. “I’m glad I’m where I am now, but back then, what happened kinda scared me into wanting to reconsider work in one of the other corps. But Professor Laventon had really needed a research partner at the time, and I knew he had sort of been hoping I could work under him; I couldn’t imagine letting him down-“

Rei took on a sheepish look of sorts as he recalled helping out the professor, and Pikachu took the chance to snatch the oran berry out of the boy’s hand. Grabbing the fruit, Pikachu quickly stuffed the rest of it into its mouth.

“Hey!” Rei interrupted himself to grab for the rest of his breakfast back, but Pikachu reared its head away just before he could get it. “Pikachu!”

“Pi!” The yellow Pokémon squeaked triumphantly around the berry in its teeth. It moved away from Rei’s hands each time he grabbed for them, jumping from shoulder to shoulder, before leaping off and running under the training grounds’ wooden platform. Not having nearly as good of a time as Pikachu was, Rei hurried after him.

…Which left a concerned Akari, still mulling over the unsettling anecdote that had just been shared, next to a very observational Zisu. If it was bad enough that she requested Ingo go in her place…

“You know, I doubt what happened last year will happen again.” The security corps captain told Akari in an effort to comfort her. “Because this time, we’ve got you and Rei with us, the two best survey corps members the Galaxy Team has! And Ingo’s coming too - I’ve yet to see anything, Pokémon or otherwise, get the best of him.”

“Thanks, Zisu.” Akari readjusted the backpack on her shoulders; it was already starting to become a little heavy, containing a lot more than her simple satchel. She gave the woman the best reassuring smile she could.

Sure, Akari could easily have seen something like that happening to one of the kids looking to be a potential recruit, out beyond the walls of the village and experiencing the Pokémon-infested wilderness for the first time…

…But Cyllene? The captain of the security corps, who she had never ever seen show an ounce of fear? The woman was always so level-headed and commanding, so calm and collected… what could freak her out that badly? The planned site was out in the mirelands, and while she hadn’t really lingered in the particular place they were going to, she had stayed in the marshy area many times before, and nothing like that had happened to her…

Akari’s gaze moved back to Ingo, still talking but appearing to be reaching the end of his exhaustive list.

Hopefully Zisu was right, and that whatever happened last year would not repeat itself this time.

“…And that concludes our rules!” Ingo clapped his hands together, snapping everyone back to attention once again. “If there are no more questions then I assume, we are ready to depart the station; onwards to the Crimson Mirelands!”

————

The morning sun had long since risen higher in the sky as Ingo and Zisu continued to trek along the outskirts of the fieldlands. The group trailed behind them, staying close to the base of Mount Coronet as they passed through fields and over hills. They had already been walking for a few hours, but Ingo and Zisu made sure to keep a comfortable pace, mostly for the kids.

Several stops had already been issued to give them frequent breaks and let them experience some of the scenery outside Jubilife’s gates. Akari and Rei had taken up the back of the group, and conversation had led them both to agreeing that the pace was much slower than they were used to; it was past noon, and considering the time they left at, they would have reached the Mirelands by now. But they had to remember that these were young kids who mostly spent their days confined to the village walls, and were not used to traversing the wilderness with heavy packs on their backs.

And besides, the stops were nice; with the fall season, the crisp air rustled the warm-tinted leaves of the trees, providing very nice scenery to take in and appreciate. The top of Mount Coronet wasn’t even visible amongst the thick clouds, which provided a nice overcast sky that kept the temperature bearable as they trekked.

Wild Pokémon had been spotted many times in the distance as well, and while they were mostly of the docile type, it still greatly excited the kids. The sight of a fleeting flock of starly, or a family of bidoof and bibarel fortifying their dams earned lots of pointing and shouting, to make sure everyone noticed. A few times, a Pokémon even stopped long enough for Ingo to give a brief lesson about it.

“Alright, let’s take a brief stop here,” Ingo turned to address the group as they made their way into a shady clearing of trees. “There’s a brief uphill climb tracking over the hills up ahead. But once we pass those, we’ll have entered the Mirelands, and nearly reached our destination.”

Despite it being a break, the tweens all dropped their heavy backpacks and piled them against the trunks of the nearby trees, excited to run around and explore the wild area.

“We’re gonna go find a Pokémon and catch it!” One of the older kids in the group at eleven years old, Olli, called out as he pulled a handful of pokeballs he had stashed away in his backpack. “I told my sister I’d come back to Jubilife with at least one Pokémon!”

“Don’t go too far, stay where we can see you!” Zisu called out to them, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears as the kids ran over a small hillside, out of view. Rei, who had just made himself comfortable leaning up against a tree, moved to go after them.

“I’ll help you keep an eye on them; come on Pikachu!” He promised the woman as he followed over the grassy hill with her, disagreeable yellow Pokémon trailing behind them reluctantly.

With that situation covered, Ingo dropped his own pack besides the others and stretched a horrible crack out of his back; the weight of the pack had been irritating his back for the last hour, but he didn’t want to mention anything. He retrieved a container of water from his pack and moved to sit down on a felled log, while Akari finally dropped her own pack with the rest of the pile, the last one to do so.

Nothing much to do now, except wait for everyone to return.

“Hey, um, Ingo,” Akari sat down next to the warden as he took a drink of water in the shade. He turned his head, acknowledging her with a hum as he wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. “When Cyllene asked you to take her place for this trip, did she mention why she didn’t want to go this year?”

“Ah, she simply said it was a matter of work that could not be left unfinished at her office.” Ingo repeated the same thing Akari had heard over and over. “An understandable predicament. I was happy to be available to offer my assistance and take her place.”

“Besides that, did she say anything about what happened last year?” The teen tried to press further. “Like, an incident or anything?”

Ingo looked down at his water for a moment, trying to recall.

“...She did remind me to heed caution of our surroundings, but that is standard procedure when it comes to safety. However, there was no mention of anything that occurred on the last trip. Did something happen last year?”

In other words, Cyllene hadn’t told Ingo anything. He wasn’t even made aware that something had happened to her. Was the incident so traumatizing, that she wouldn’t even talk about it in terms of warning to peers?

“Well, I heard that something happened last time, and it sort of resulted in Cyllene being…dragged off by something? I think? No one knows for sure what happened, and she won’t talk about it, but…yeah.” Akari threaded her fingers together as Ingo screwed the cap back on to his water container. “I guess it scared everyone on the trip bad enough into joining different corps.”

“I see.” Ingo’s frown deepened some. “Well, I was not made aware of this. But, regardless of what happened, I will make sure these events do not repeat themselves. These potential recruits seem excited to follow your path as a survey corps member, but are at a rather impressionable age; I would not want a bad experience to be the cause of a track change.”

Ingo’s words comforted Akari some.

“Hey! Mr. Ingo, Akari! Look!”

Both the teenager and the warden looked up to see Olli running back over the hill towards them, pokeball held high above his head. The other children followed behind excitedly, with Rei and Zisu taking up the back.

“Rei helped me catch them!” Olli reached them, jumping up and down as he took his pokeball and popped it open to show them what he had caught. The capsule released a stream of energy, and the emerging form quickly revealed itself to be a tiny combee, buzzing energetically on transparent wings.

“Bravo, young man!” Ingo congratulated the boy as he smiled wide, pokeball still in hand as his new companion buzzed around him. “What a fine partner you’ve secured yourself.”

“My sister’s gonna be so jealous when it evolves!” Olli beamed.

Akari didn’t have the heart to tell him the combee he had caught was a male, and what that specifically meant for its evolutionary options. For now, just let him have his moment.

————

Dry autumn leaves crinkled under pairs of footfalls as Ingo and Zisu rounded a rocky corner, pushing through swaying tallgrass to meet a river. A wooden bridge was stretched across it, leading to the other side where a gaping entrance to decaying man-made caverns sat - the Solaceon Ruins.

“A notable landmark,” Ingo mused, noticing a few of the kids staring. “Our destination should be just up ahead, if we just follow the stream. If you excuse us, Miss Zisu and I would like to go on ahead and check that the site is vacant, and safe for set-up. Please wait here with Miss Akari and Rei while we go on ahead; we will return shortly.”

Ingo and Zisu pulled ahead, onwards towards the campsite - Zisu had told Ingo how several members of the survey corps had reported seeing the Miss Fortune Sisters using the site from time to time, and how they treated it as a base to hide out and steal from travelers. If the bandits were there now, it would be best to ensure their removal before bringing the recruits over.

With the adults’ absence, it didn’t take long for the children to turn their attention to the ruins across the river, the massive entrance jutting out of the cliff face like the open mouth of a hippowdon.

“Those are the ruins my sister told me about!” Ollie pointed at the looming structure, turning to look up at Rei. “That’s where the ghost dragged Ms. Cyllene to, right?”

This piqued Akari’s interest just as much as the rest of the kids, whos’ murmurings quickly grew quiet in order to encourage the boy into continuing his startling story.

“Um, what?” Rei was clearly caught off guard. “Is that…what your sister said happened?”

“Yeah! She went on the trip last year like you did, and she said that Ms. Cyllene was found across the river by the ruins, because a ghost had dragged her over there!”

The surrounding kids made a collection of different sounds between excitement and nervousness. A ghost?

“Now, I don’t know about that-” Rei attempted to stifle the topic, unsure on how to comment on it, but Olli kept going.

“She said that a ghost comes out of the ruins at night looking for people to drag away, and if she didn’t find Ms. Cyllene when she did, it would have dragged her all the way into the ruins and eaten her, or taken her shadow, or hidden her away somewhere!”

Another round of shouting from the children started up, equal parts nervous and excited. They began shuffling away from the river, towards the direction Ingo and Zisu had gone off to.

“Now, that’s not true-!” Rei made another effort to calm them down. “There are no ghosts out by the ruins, and one definitely didn’t drag Cyllene away. Akari’s been in there plenty of times before, and she’s never seen any ghosts inside…right Akari?”

“Uh, right!” Akari chimed in awkwardly, not expecting to be brought into the conversation like that. “I’ve never seen anything strange in there before!”

Well, unown liked to fester in the damp darkness of the ruins and cling to the crumbling walls, and while they were certainly strange beings, they were quite harmless. That was it; strange, but harmless.

“At night, too?” Olli asked; it felt like a challenge of judgment, despite the question coming from a genuine place of curiosity.

Akari was quiet for a moment, reaching behind to rub at her neck with a hand. She shouldn’t lie to them, should she? “...Well, no, I’ve never really been around the place at night. But I’ve never seen anything to suggest there are ghosts in there, either.”

Olli and the rest of the kids seemed entirely unmoved at this point, still convinced something sinister lurked in the ruins.

“Olli, maybe Mara was just trying to freak you out,” Rei tried to reason with the boy… though Akari could sense a hint of doubt beginning to creep into his own demeanor as well. “Because I was there right with her last year, and nothing suggested it had anything to do with ghosts. She might just be trying to scare you, knowing you were going on the trip this year.”

“I’m not scared,” Olli argued, as if that was an offensive suggestion. “I want to see it!” Mara didn’t see it last time, I want to be the first one to see it!”

Apparently, Olli’s competitive nature with his sister didn’t just extend to catching Pokémon.

The snap of a branch off to the side was heard, dissolving any chances of continuing the conversation. Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the sound a little too quickly, but were relieved to see that it was simply Ingo and Zisu returning to the group.

The two seemed to realize everyone was on edge and slowed their walk, assuming they had startled the group. Zisu cleared her throat and gestured behind them, back towards the campsite.

“Campground’s clear! Let's go and get our site set up, so we can get a campfire going, and start on dinner!”

“And be mindful to avoid stepping through any leaf piles,” Ingo added. “The paras stationed around here often use them for cover, regarding themselves and their nests. Leave them alone, and they’ll leave you alone.”

The sun was beginning to set; they still had several hours before dark, but it would take time to set up the campsite and get dinner started, so it would be best to hurry and start now. The tweens rushed after Ingo and Zisu, eager to finish the work, but also wishing to get away from the Solaceon Ruins. Rei and Akari trailed behind as they left the wooden bridge behind them, though Akari couldn’t help but throw another backward glance at the dim maw of the ruins, gaping from across the river.

That’s where Cyllene had been found?

“It was really a Pokémon that did that, right?” Akari whispered to her colleague as they continued to carefully step amongst fallen leaves, losing their crunchy texture to dampness as they traversed through muddier patches. She held back, not wanting the children to overhear their conversation, and Rei caught on, slowing down with her. “I mean, with what happened with Cyllene; I’m sure Olli’s sister was just trying to scare him with a story.”

“Well,” Rei appeared to be wrestling with his thoughts. “I remember Mara was the one to find Cyllene first, and she did look pretty freaked out when we got there. I don’t know if she saw something, but I remember she was adamant that after what happened, she’d never join the survey corps, because she didn’t want to have to deal with something like that alone. And she stuck with her statement; she’s with the agriculture corps now. If anyone would have seen anything, it would have been her. But she’d never said anything about a ghost before…”

That didn’t reassure Akari at all. If anything, it only solidified why Cyllene refused to talk about what happened, and why all of the potential recruits chose different corps. Pokémon were one thing, and even ghost Pokémon were unsettling in their own way, but ghosts…

There was something disturbing about the notion of shadows of people, innominate entities wandering about the wilderness as shreds of something left behind. And the thought of encountering one that wishes to interact with you in such a way-

“Did you ever think it was a ghost?”

“A ghost Pokémon, maybe,” Rei reasoned. “But I’ve never known Cyllene to get like that over any ghost Pokémon…she’s the captain of the survey corps for a reason.”

Akari realized that Rei was right. Gastly were pretty, well, ghastly, and haunter were exceptionally haunting…but surely they weren’t anything that Cyllene hadn’t dealt with before.

“But then again, I know Mara likes to tease Olli about things. Maybe she really was just…exaggerating some things to scare him.” Rei played devil’s advocate against himself, absentmindedly watching his shoes crush the thin leaves beneath him as he walked.

“Maybe.” Akari denied herself another glance back at the ruins looming behind them.

————

“Alright, now here’s where you add the good stuff,” Akari held up one of the freshly-gathered sootfoot roots for the tweens to see, standing around the boiling pot situated over the campfire. The sun was now resting comfortably on top of Hisui’s mountain line, leaving waning sunlight to gradually be snuffed out by the darkness creeping across the sky. The cold, autumn weather was starting to set in with sundown, leaving the trees around them to rustle with the breeze, and the kids to huddle closer to the bright campfire for warmth and light. Ember sat close by, having had the honor of lighting the campfire, but since retired to the sidelines to watch Akari cook.

“For things like springy mushrooms, you can pull them apart and drop them in as needed, if you’re short on time. But for sootfoot roots, you should still cut them so they cook faster.” Akari explained as she chopped up the root into rough cubes. “And you should still cut the medicinal leeks at the stalk; out here, you can find the best ones in places that get a lot of sun…”

The children were entirely enthralled in Akari’s quick lesson of making a simple soup; she might have just been teaching them how to live off of the land like a survey corps member would do during extended expeditions, but the kids enjoyed it all the same.

“Now if the broth is done, we can bring it over here to the pot, and add just a little crunchy salt if we have any…and be careful not to overcook it! I’ve been working on that myself; it’s a little different cooking over a campfire like this-”

Akari’s voice carried over the dim campground as she continued to show the tweens how to prepare a quick but nourishing meal, and Ingo could hear it behind him as he set up his tent on the outskirts of camp.

Normally, setting up tents would not be a usual part of the process of expeditions, as there were base camps stationed throughout the region that survey corps members were expected to return to, where tents were already set up - Zisu had made that very clear when they stopped by one of the fieldlands’ base camps earlier to talk about them. However, their group of nine clearly couldn’t fit into the two tents each base camp had. So it became an opportunity to show the kids the alternative of setting up their own sites for overnight stay, should they ever be unable to reach a base camp.

So Ingo and Zisu had been showing the kids how to set their tents up over the last hour, directing them through the process until they had correctly finished the task (it took them a few tries to get the hang of it, but they all did quite well in the end), and decided dinner should get started on while there was still some light left in the sky. Zisu and Rei had gone off to go find more dry firewood to keep a fire going through the night - it was a tedious task, seeing as much of the surrounding branches were afflicted by the damp atmosphere. Ingo had insisted he stay behind; he would get their tents up by the time they had returned, so that everyone could just focus on enjoying dinner. Now, the only tent left to set up was his own.

With the firelight and the sunset at his back, the warden hummed quietly to himself - a set of notes that was just as unfamiliar yet nagging to him as the rest of his memories - as he went about setting the pegs. He was so focused on his task, that he almost didn’t notice the set of curious eyes watching him from the foliage that crowded around the campsite.

Almost.

————

The sun had finally drifted behind Hisui’s mountains enough to smolder what light was left in the sky. The overcast weather left a thick cover of clouds to block much of the moon’s natural lighting, blanketing the area in darkness. The illumination of the campfire bathed the surrounding area in a strong warmth as Akari stirred the last of the ingredients into the pot situated above it.

She topped the bubbling pot with a lid, pulling back slightly as heated steam began to curl around the edges. “Ok, now all that’s left is to wait for it to simmer for a few minutes, then-”

“-Miss Akari? Has Miss Zisu returned yet with Rei?”

“Not yet…” Akari immediately noted the slight uncertainty in Ingo’s voice; her gaze shifted from the pot over to the warden as he approached the campfire, partially obscured behind the group of kids crowded around it. At his inclusion, the tweens turned to look at Ingo as well, though they all fell quiet at something Akari couldn’t quite see - surely he wasn’t, but Akari’s first concern was that he was hurt somehow.

“...Why? Is everything ok?”

“Apologies for the interruption, everything’s alright. I, well…I am uncertain of how she arrived here all by herself, but I believe we have an extra passenger with us, and feel I should inform Miss Zisu about it post-haste.”

Thoroughly perplexed, Akari moved to stand up from her kneeled position over the cooking pot. Now able to look over the crowd of kids, Akari could clearly see a little girl, much younger than anyone from their group. She was standing by Ingo’s side and holding onto his hand - though it seemed more so from allowing Ingo to guide her over to them, rather than wanting to hold onto him.

The child met Akari’s gaze with her gentle brown eyes; her tied-back dark hair and red-toned clothing both made her instantly recognizable to Akari, despite only properly talking with her one time prior.

“Vessa?”

The girl smiled at the mention of her name and nodded to confirm, seemingly happy to be remembered by Akari. “Yup!”

“She is familiar to you?” Ingo couldn’t hide the slight look of surprise in his features, though there seemed to be some relief as well, knowing she was familiar to at least one person here.

“Yeah, I’ve seen her in Jubilife a few times before.” Akari recalled.

When they had left the Village gates that morning, a few of the younger children had attempted to try and go with them, either because their older siblings were going, or because they wanted to go see the world outside of the gates as well. Ingo and Zisu had to ensure the children would stay at Jubilife and not follow them out, but perhaps, did they somehow overlook this girl..?

But Rei and herself had taken up the back of the group the whole trek out here, and had not once noticed her following behind. Was she just that sneaky?

“Vessa, did you follow us out here?” Akari asked the girl as she kept still, holding onto Ingo’s hand. The surrounding kids had started to move back, giving Akari more room to see her without peering over them.

“I heard where you were going and wanted to come with you!” The small girl replied; she didn’t seem at all worried or stressed, like Akari would expect a child of her age to be after having wandered through the dangerous wilderness on their own. Though, the look she reserved specifically for Akari seemed to hint that she had more, unspoken reasons for following them.

“Just as I suspected,” Ingo shook his head. “Alright. Well, it’s already dark, and she has nothing with her - there’s really nothing we can do about this now, except give her some dinner, and ensure she has a good place with us to sleep tonight. And tomorrow, when she returns with us, I’ll, well… personally and profusely apologize to her parents for allowing this to happen in the first place. I’m sure they’re worried sick.”

A sharp, hot steaming sound bubbled up right behind Akari, and with responsive noises from a few kids, the teen realized that the soup had boiled over the pot, dripping into the campfire’s flames beneath it - surely, it was done by now, if not a little overdone.

“Oh!” Akari killed what little flame there was left, and used a cloth to lift the lid off. Messy, and a little crisped around the edges of the pot - Akari had let it overcook despite trying hard not to, but the soup still seemed good for the most part. “See, um, that’s what you don’t let happen when you’re cooking.”

————

Akari handed the last prepared bowl of hot soup, half-filled, to Vessa as she made her way to the campfire, having been the last in line to wait for dinner. “Careful, it’s hot. Blow on it a few times before you start drinking.”

“Thank you!” Vessa smiled sweetly as she took the steaming soup in her hands, and moved to go find a place to sit and drink it in peace.

With the kids fed, now it was time to prepare some for herself and Rei, and Ingo and Zisu. Akari grabbed another carved bowl, this time filling it more generously than half-way.

“Here you go, Rei.” Akari held the steaming soup out to her colleague as she left the pot to walk over to him; he was busy showing a few of the kids how to carve pokeballs from some of the apricorn shells that had been found around the campsite, allowing them to watch as they slurped from their bowls. Pikachu was curled up next to him, chewing on the flesh that Rei had cut out of the apricorn shell, and Ember was situated between two kids, enjoying occasional pets from them.

“Oh, thanks Akari!” Rei gratefully took the bowl and readjusted his position, setting his half-finished pokeball aside to do so.

“Of course,” She gave him a smile, before returning to the pot to fill another bowl. “Hopefully it’s not too burned.”

“I’m sure it’s great,” Rei reassured her, blowing on the contents to cool it down. “Everyone else seems to like it!”

Looking around the campsite, Akari could see more or less, most of the kids were happily slurping the soup up. A few picked up on the conversation, and gave Akari an agreeable nod with their heads or an affirmative thumbs up to convince her that yes, it was good!

Emphasis on most, though.

Off to the side, Vessa sat a secluded distance away from the others, where the firelight only weakly illuminated her. She held the hot soup in her hands, but she wasn’t drinking it, she was simply staring down at it, as if inspecting the contents.

Strange…

Akari would check on her after making sure she got dinner to Ingo and Zisu. She filled up two more bowls generously, picking them up carefully before heading for the outskirts of the camp. After Zisu had returned with Rei, Ingo had taken her aside to talk. Akari knew it was to discuss Vessa, from how he took the conversation away from the children.

“Make sure to tell Ingo and Zisu to come back!” Rei told Akari. “A few of the kids said they want Ingo to share the story about Draugr now.”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Several voices spoke up in immediate confirmation at this, almost spilling their soup in the process. “He said he’d share it with us! And Janie says she hasn’t heard it before!”

“Oh, and have him share a ghost story too if he has one of those!” Olli piped up.

“Alright, I’ll do my best,” Akari humored them with a small laugh as she continued on her way. Though, she doubted she’d vouch for Ollie’s request - it seemed like the last thing he needed was a ghost story.

There, in the darkness and by the edge of the river, hidden behind the large mossy rock that sat in front of the campsite, was Ingo and Zisu locked in conversation. The warden was making occasional gestures with his hands, the brim of his cap gripped tight in one of them - he was stressed. Zisu’s arms were crossed, listening intently for the most part, but periodically shifting her position to weigh in with a brief thought of her own - she was being supportive.

“…just don’t know.” Ingo’s words became more audible as Akari approached, though his voice was still hard to hear, being kept low. “I had not once seen her anywhere behind us on our trip to this station, and I made a point to constantly familiarize myself with our surroundings to ensure safety, just as Captain Cyllene instructed. I did not know she was out there. If she didn’t find us…”

“Well, we’re lucky she did find us, however she did it.” Zisu consoled him in her own hushed voice as the man ran a hand through his hair. “Her parents might be worried, but we’ll be able to get her back to them tomorrow perfectly safe, and that’s what matters.”

“Um,” Akari cleared her throat as she approached, feeling a little awkward to interrupt such a serious discussion. “Dinner’s ready?”

Akari held the two bowls out to the both of them, steam rising off the hot broth into the cold night air.

“Oh, thank you Miss Akari,” Ingo situated his weathered hat snuggly back on his head, and received one of the bowls as Zisu passed it to him, before taking her own. “It looks wonderful.”

“Absolutely!” Zisu agreed. “Smells just as good, too!”

“Thanks! And uh, you guys think you could come back to the campfire after you’re done talking? The kids said they want to hear your Draugr story now, Ingo.” Akari gave Ingo a half-amused, half-sympathetic look.

She knew this was only about the fiftieth time one of them had pestered him to share about it; Akari had heard about how a few times, he had given in and recounted a version of it during slow days at the training grounds, when the children would hang around with nothing better to do - but they never got tired of it, it seemed.

There was often fascination to be found in stories like that, when the very real danger had long since faded, and all that it left behind was a riveting narrative.

“They’re that eager? I’m certain they know that story better than I do, by now.” Ingo chuffed into his soup, barely heard above the laughter that Zisu let out.

“Oh come on, you can’t disappoint them Ingo, you told them you’d share it on this trip last week!” The woman pressed a hand against his shoulder as she went to move them both back towards the campsite. “Stories are at their best when they’re told around campfires; let’s not keep them waiting!”

“Ollie said he wanted a ghost story too,” Akari added hesitantly. “But I think…it would be best if we avoid those tonight altogether.”

Both adults gave Akari a look of confusion, having missed Olli’s earlier account of the Solaceon Ruins.

“Uh, the kids are a little freaked out about what’s in the woods after dark.” She half-explained.

“Right then, no ghost stories.” Zisu affirmed.

As Akari trailed behind Ingo and Zisu, back to where the fire was warm and bright, she cast one more glance back across the deep river. Back at the cold, gaping darkness of the Solaceon Ruins.

It certainly looked a lot more ominous at night.

As Ingo and Zisu made their way back to the campfire’s light, the kids, who had previously been entirely engrossed in Rei’s method of carving pokeballs, immediately perked up and cheered, turning to face him with hope in their eyes.

“Tell the story! Tell it!” They demanded immediately, not bothering to move as Ingo and Zisu stepped around them in order to get to an open spot and sit down, so they could enjoy their dinner.

“One moment, please!” The warden insisted, holding his bowl close so it wouldn’t spill on any children’s heads. “Permit us to refuel first, then…” Ingo sighed, though there wasn’t any annoyance to be found in his tone. “…I will share the story.”

As cheers erupted from the group of kids, Akari went to finally go get her own bowl of soup, and finish it off. Kneeling down and tipping the pot to get the last drops out, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Perla, one of the younger, more soft-spoken kids of the group, standing at her side.

“She hasn’t been eating.” She simply said, and pointed over Akari’s shoulder at someone. Akari didn’t have to look back to know that she was pointing at Vessa. “Is she ok?”

Akari glanced over her shoulder inconspicuously back at the girl in question; Vessa had sat her half-full bowl of soup down at her side, entirely untouched, and was instead threading wildgrass together into a chain of sorts. On the contrary to her isolation in the darkness, she seemed perfectly content with where she was.

“I’m sure she’s fine, maybe she just doesn’t like the soup.” Akari set down the pot, convinced it was now empty after a few more shakes. “But I’ll go check on her.”

“Olli said she might be a ghost.” Perla added with an even softer voice; it took Akari a startling moment to realize that she was afraid. “That’s why she won’t eat, and why she came from the same direction as the ruins. And that she is waiting until night time to grab someone.”

Among the kids crowded around Ingo and Zisu, Akari could see a few of them taking occasional glances back at herself and Perla; were they afraid too? Was Olli telling everyone that Vessa was a ghost? Come to think of it, Olli was starting to seemingly keep his distance from the girl…perhaps his fear had finally overtaken his determination to see the ghost, now that the possibility could have been standing nearby, breathing the same air as him.

“Perla, no,” Akari set her bowl down as she turned her head back to the girl. “She’s not a ghost, Ollie shouldn’t be saying stuff like that about her. She came from Jubilife, remember?”

“…Yeah,” The girl agreed half-heartedly, though her body language gave away that she still needed some convincing, with her hands tucked behind her back, and her head tilted downwards.

“I’ll go check on her, but I’m sure everything’s fine.” Akari took her bowl back into her hands and stood up, leaving Perla to watch her approach Vessa.

But as Akari walked closer to the firelight’s edge where Vessa lingered, she couldn’t help but wonder… Why wasn’t she eating?

It certainly wasn’t a question that dominated her mind because ghosts didn’t eat… because Vessa was not a ghost, she was a girl from Jubilife. Akari was just concerned that she wasn’t eating anything after such a long hike through the wilderness alone; surely a kid would be hungry after that.

How did such a young girl make it through the wild all by herself anyways, completely unscathed? Akari would often find at least one new scrape or scratch on her even on good days… and why did Vessa wait until dark to show up? Why hadn’t Ingo seen her at least once during the many times he observed the area around them? Why didn’t Rei and herself notice her either, from the back of the group?

Akari shook her head, overcome with a sudden spike of embarrassment. Shame on her for thinking the things she admonished Perla for thinking.

Well, Akari knew one thing for sure, and it was that Vessa was absolutely not a ghost.

“Hey Vessa,” Akari finally reached the girl, situated against a rocky wall and still absorbed in her tangle of wildgrass. “I noticed you haven’t had your dinner yet. Are you feeling alright?”

“I am! Thank you.” The girl continued on with her chain, though she extended the courtesy of turning her head to give her attention to Akari as she sat beside her.

Well that answered the question without giving her any information at all.

“…Do you not like the soup?” Akari tried again.

“No, I just can’t eat it.”

Again with the terribly vague answers, though this time Akari couldn’t help but wonder…she hated that her mind immediately jumped to it, but that was a strikingly identifiable feature of-

“Why not?” Hesitance slightly drew out Akari’s words, unable to help feeling a little nervous for the next answer. Vessa’s way of responding to questions was unfortunately effective at putting one on the edge of their seat.

“It’s got springy mushrooms in it, doesn’t it? Momma always said I’m allergic to springy mushrooms, and that I can’t have anything with them in it.”

Akari never recalled feeling so simultaneously guilty and relieved to hear a child had a food allergy in her life.

“Oh, Vessa, you should have said something,” Akari’s tight chest immediately relaxed, releasing a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in. “Here, I think I have something else…you can have honey cakes, right?”

Vessa nodded her head excitedly as Akari reached into her satchel. She pulled out a handful of honey cakes that she had made the day before, and placed the stack of treats into the girl’s open hands - she had dropped her wildgrass tangle in a hurry to eat. Akari felt bad for letting her go hungry like that.

“Thank you!” Vessa smiled, before taking a big bite out of one of the soft cakes. She fell into a sort of quiet as she chewed, and Akari took the opportunity to finally slurp from her own bowl of soup - it had grown lukewarm, but it wasn’t anything Akari wasn’t used to, after preparing many meals out in the wild.

Akari tipped the bowl up as she slurped the broth and mushrooms. As she finished the contents, she saw that Vessa had since eaten all of her honey cakes, wiping some leftover rice base from her mouth.

See? She ate the food, and ghosts can’t eat-

“I followed after you when I learned where you all were going, because I wanted to help you find one of them.” The girl broke the comfortable silence, disconnecting Akari from her train of thought.

The statement was as unsettling as it was confusing. “Find..?”

“You’ll see them across the river.” Vessa pointed through the trees that surrounded the campsite, out at the dark edges and black waters of the river on the other side. “They’re not here yet, but I’ll help you find them when they come.”

The hairs on the back of Akari’s neck stood on end as her gaze followed Vessa’s pointed finger into the darkness hovering over the black waters of the river.

“Um…Vessa,” Akari swallowed. “You haven’t been listening to what Olli’s been talking about in camp, right? We didn’t come out here to look for ghosts.”

“They’re not called ghosts.” Vessa wiped her sticky hands in the grass. “And they’re not like Olli says. When you meet them, you’ll see. They’ll be here soon!”

Akari suddenly felt very cold at the edge of the firelight, and very very aware of the dark expanse of wilderness around her, obscuring things that could be stalking them, and might not be Pokémon.

“Come on, let's go back to the campfire; Ingo’s going to tell a story soon.” Standing up and brushing the grass and leaves off of herself, Akari moved to pick up the soup bowl beside Vessa - she’d wash it in the river later - and stack it on top of her empty one. Vessa copied her, and Akari led her back to the others, back into the light. Her walk was a bit more flighty than she would have liked to admit.

Reconvening with the group circled around the campfire, Akari could see Ingo and Zisu had since finished their dinner. Ingo was off to the side, presumably putting the empty bowls away (and the cooking pot, as it no longer sat above the fire pit), and Zisu had taken up a seat on one of the tree stumps surrounding the campfire.

“Akari, over here!” Rei waved over to her, and she saw her colleague had saved her a spot in a patch of softer grass in the back, behind the group of kids. Pikachu and Ember were waiting as well.

“There’s a spot over there between Perla and Bren, you think you can sit there?” Akari pointed to an open area for Vessa. She nodded, and wordlessly moved to go sit with the other children. Finally, Akari made her way over to Rei and their Pokémon, and sat down.

“I didn’t think they’d be done so fast,” Akari offhandedly commented as she made herself comfortable on the grass, Ember coming up to lie on her lap.

“Everyone was really rushing them to finish,” Rei snickered, watching Ingo finally return to the fire pit. “They’re really impatient to hear the story… and they wanted Olli to stop bringing up ghosts.”

Akari sighed; she hoped that he wasn’t still referring to Vessa as one. “Does he think about anything else other than ghosts?”

“Alright!” Ingo sat himself down on one of the tree stumps, facing everyone who had been sitting around the campfire. The light illuminated his features, contrasting his black coat that seemed to merge with the darkness behind him. “Final call, are you sure you want to hear this story? It’s been recounted before, and I do have others.”

“Yes!” Was the resounding answer from several of the kids, leaning forward for emphasis.

Ingo was giving lots of outs; Akari wondered how much of it was him making sure he was giving the audience what they wanted, and if any part of it was hesitance from him not wanting to recount the events.

“Very well then,” Ingo relented as he tipped his cap forward. The man cleared his throat as he leaned towards the fire, searching it as he gathered his words.

“…Now, as I recall, I had found myself in the icelands with no memories, and I was being tracked by-”

“-No no no, Ingo!” Zisu stopped the warden in his tracks before he had even begun to pick up any steam, lightly smacking him against the shoulder with the back of her hand. “Don’t tell it like that, not when we’re sitting around a campfire! We’re not here to listen to you simply recall a memory, we’re here to let you share a thrilling, adventurous narrative!”

“I’ve always told it this way.” Ingo’s frown deepened, before leaning closer to talk in a lower voice to the woman. “I believe an abridged version is a more, ah, appropriate track for this audience.”

Zisu couldn’t disagree with that; Ingo always left out the more gruesome details of the events when recounting them for the children, as it was quite a horrific story, and after all, they were trying to help the village grow more comfortable with Pokémon…but telling an abridged version did not have to mean it should be flat or repetitive.

“Well you can still spice it up a little!” Zisu encouraged him. “Include the scary parts, omit the…unnecessary parts. Give them a version they haven't heard yet!”

“Yeah! Come on!” The circle of kids gave a round of agreement, hoping for Ingo to give them some new details.

“Alright, alright,” Ingo finally relented, which immediately turned the childrens’ hopeful encouragement into praise. “Permit me a moment to reroute…”

Brief silence settled as Ingo’s gaze flitted to the crackling fire, then the ground at his feet, where they lingered. Even from the back of the circle, Akari could see the warden considering things thoroughly. She knew he was doing his best to pull everything out from his memories of the event, even details he himself had tucked away from his conscious thoughts.

Something new…

The story was very real to him, but to be a good story, it had to be made real to others. It had to make others feel like they experienced something they had never even witnessed from a distance.

“Ahem, I…” A pause, perhaps out of hesitation. “…I recall the first thing that came to mind when I opened my eyes, staring up into the sky from on my back, was ‘the forecast didn’t call for snow tonight’.”

Ingo still didn’t entirely know why that had been his first thought, but he had come to understand that he probably never would. The meaning had left him along with all his other memories long before he thought to grab onto it.

“I had forced myself to get up and start walking through the snowstorm that I found myself in the middle of. There was nothing around me for the short distance I could see, save for a stretch of snow in every direction. I couldn’t remember anything at all, but I knew I couldn’t stay there, or I would succumb to the elements quickly. Though, as I walked, I wasn’t even aware I had made my way into claimed territory. Something was tracking me through the icelands, and had locked onto my movements the moment I had risen from the snow. I was just as unaware of its presence as it was hyper-aware of mine, and I was unfortunately even more uninformed of its impending arrival.”

The kids leaned in closer, the most collectively quiet that they had been all night. Akari and Rei listened just as intently as Ingo began to recount his memories of the event, the campfire’s light contrasting the shadow that the brim of his hat cast upon his face.

“While the snowstorm rendered my sight inoperable, I was able to rely on my other senses well enough - I had to.” Ingo continued; his voice usually grew a bit more monotonous when he retold past events, his focus being put into recalling the narrative, but the words he chose were often strong enough to carry it well. “I couldn’t see that something plowing through the snow right towards me-”

Like a train speeding down its tracks, dead set on its path.

“-but I could feel pounding in the ground vibrating rhythmically, just like-”

Wheels under the car and against the rails, steel against steel.

“-my heart, racing from beneath my ribcage. I could hear great heaving underneath the flurry, like-”

The heart of the great machine, the engine powering the parts in a mechanical imitation of life.

“-rumbling thunder erupting low and loud, overhead in the middle of a storm.”

“I’ve never heard him tell it like this before,” Rei whispered to Akari as he leaned closer to her, keeping his eyes on Ingo all the while.

“Me neither.” Akari whispered back.

As Ingo had said earlier, he had never given this much detail.

“The flurry, dense as it was, suddenly parted to my right. A spear of ice tore through it, sharp and thin like an ice pick at its end, but as thick as a pillar at its base. A challenge sounded, a bellow from its lungs that reverberated through me.” Ingo kept going, lacing his fingers together as he leaned forward. His eyes no longer evaluated his audience's attention, instead glued to something in the fire. “I found myself face to face with-“

A ghost. The scythes of dark ice silhouetted against the snowstorm as it lugged itself forward. Frozen grime tangled its fur and hung off its features in sharp clumps, pulled backwards with the unrelenting wind. Spatters of white clung to its limbs in heaps, where snow was kicked up. It was a living mountain. It was…

“-Draugr, the icelands apparition preserved in rime. It has found me, and it had challenged me. I was unfamiliar with the phenomenon at the time, but it was unmistakably an alpha, and I had made the unfortunate mistake of encroaching on its herd’s territory. I remember the look in its eyes-”

Oh how he remembered the eyes.

A sturdy patch of vibrant blue mantled around sunken black. Darkness clung heavy around two small eyes only made smaller, but pulled wide in rage. White replaced by webs of bloodshot red, tight black pupils boring into his. He remembered how they couldn’t stop moving as they took in the sight of him. Or how they seemed to gain height as it backed up…

“-before it reared back, towering over me with its massive body and frozen tusks, before bringing them back down where I stood-”

Ingo had never seen something so massive in his life. It seemed like it had almost outgrown its own skeleton, the way the muscled flesh undulated under the thick skin and fur, frozen over in clumps of frost. The sheer strength with which it heaved its own weight around was so startling, that…

“-It almost crushed me under the weight of itself, but I managed to move out of the way in time. However, I was unable to predict its next move. It dragged its tusks where they landed, and-”

Maybe if Ingo hadn’t been so distracted, trying to grab for something at his belt that was not there, or trying to figure out why he was in a blizzard, how this Pokémon got so big, or who he could call out to for help if he could just remember a name, he would have been able to fall away from the tusks sweeping through the snow. The jagged ice had instead slammed into his legs, and…

“-knocked me right off my feet. Before I could even right myself, it reared again, aiming to trample me. Front legs raised high, it brought them down, and-”

Ingo had shut his eyes, and when force slammed over him, it had been enough to stop his heart for a few moments. The weight on top of him was heavy and suffocating, but it was also malleable, and cold. It took Ingo a moment to realize that it had…

“-missed! Its foot came down right by my shoulder with all of its crushing weight right behind it, displacing a mountain of snow to bury me. Not taking even a moment to make sure I was not injured, I uncovered myself. I doubted I would be fortunate enough to have Draugr miss twice. Looking around me for anything that could help give me leverage, I saw an outline of trees off in the distance. Deciding it was my best chance of escape, I attempted to make it to the treeline-”

Too far. It was too far away, and a mamoswine could cover ground far faster than he could. He wouldn’t have made it even if his legs hadn’t been slammed numb by the force of the sweeping tusks. And what could trees have done anyways? Only provide a fragile canopy cover, and perhaps slow the beast down. But in this foreign white wasteland, it was all Ingo had. He only made a few steps of progress…

“-but Draugr quickly recovered from its blunder and swung around, once again colliding into me with its tusks.”

It knocked the wind right out of him, and he ended up learning later on that it had bruised several ribs - Calaba had been amazed they weren’t broken.

“I was subsequently thrown down a hill and rolled through the snow-”

Snowbank. Snowfurry. Snowbank. Snowflurry. Tumbling down the hill had meshed the ground and sky together in his vision. Soft snow gave way to a hard rock concealed beneath it at some point. Pain shot through his back as he rolled over, switching from a tumble to a slide. A gnarled branch beneath the white blanket connected with his side, and forced him back into a tumble. Another rock twisted him by his shoulder into a skid. Again and again…

“-until I hit the bottom. I barely had time to blink the stars from my vision, before I saw Draugr thundering down the hill right for me, sending snow to the sides like-”

A massive steam engine moving down the tracks, utilizing its cowcatcher like a snowplow through heavy snowbanks.

“-a ship crashing through storm waves.”

Great billows of steamed breath, heavy and violent, heaved out in clouds. It’s head dipped, its frozen spears aimed right at him. Those same wide eyes locked onto him as it drew close enough for him to see the bloodshot webs once again. The ground thundered as each monstrous leg came down with force, before pushing off and propelling it forwards.

It was at this moment that Ingo had explicitly and undeniably realized that it was now going out of its way to kill him.

“I had nowhere to go. Covering yards within seconds, it was right on top of me before I could even get up. I attempted to make a track change to the left, but before I could-”

Blunt force knocked him off of his feet again. There was a sharp pinching that gave way to hot ripping, as if a handful of his skin had been grabbed and yanked on. He was now moving with the monstrous mamoswine, and the left tusk seemed a little too sturdy against him - jostling through his side synched in time with it as Draugr pressed on. There was a splatter of red against the ice, the fabric of his clothes frayed around it.

“-I was struck right through the side by one of Draugr’s largest, sharpest tusks!”

The bubble of tension that had been building finally burst as Ingo’s voice reached a certain intensity, sitting up straight and holding the flap of his coat open to emphasize the hole in the fabric. Several of the children, who had been straining through silence up to that point, made a variety of gasps. The ones who had already heard a version of the story before simply made a face of unease.

“As Draugr speared me through and ran me into the snow, I thought that was the end of it-“

The energized look that had entered Draugr’s eyes upon realizing it had its target struck through on one of its tusks, still wide and red from their dark crevasses beneath the blue mantle, was haunting. Draugr hurled its head forwards, bashing its tusks downwards into the snow. The movements deliberately hurt. The frigid, grimy ice tusk had already fused with the warmth of the open wound. Each movement seemingly yanked on his insides. Hands grasped onto the tusk in order to try and lessen the painful jerking, and save him from the thundering limbs that would trample him if he disconnected. Sleet suffocated him as Draugr drove him through the snow. Who-knows-what hidden beneath the layers of white raked across his already-damaged back…

“-until the snow beneath me suddenly gave way-”

The support of the ground against his back was gone. The stinging ice, fused to his open wound, excruciatingly ripped away as the weight of his own body pulled him down. Snow cascaded through the air as Draugr reared back with a bellow. Ingo was falling.

“-And my back hit ice, barely cushioned by the snow still spilling over the edges of the pit above me. Draugr had dragged me right over one of the openings to the icelands’ frozen underground tunnels.”

It was all a mess, congealed together. The snowstorm rushed overhead, canceled out by ringing ears. The living mountain stared down from above, standing still over the edge of the sinkhole. Streams of white trickled down over the edge of the cavern’s opening, and gathered at the bottom. Red seeped out of the black coat, and into the surrounding snow. Bellows of frustration reverberated through the cavern, from a beast that could not reach him, and perhaps could no longer even locate him. Eyes closed tight as pain flared from his side and his back. Shallow breaths. Pained breaths. Snow gently drifted down into the sinkhole and collected on him, having separated from the hasty current above the tundra.

“I laid there on my back, where Draugr could not reach me. I watched them pace in their frustration, until I departed into an unconscious state. And after that… I was no longer in the cold mountainous wastes, at the bottom of a frozen network of tunnels, being pursued by the icelands revenant. Instead, I was in a warm tent, under the covers of a bed and staring back at someone who was repairing my wounds.”

Locking eyes with Calaba like that, in the middle of cleaning a gash on his shoulder, had startled him more than her.

“I consider myself lucky that Warden Sabi had noticed Draugr’s trail of destruction he had left behind while on a morning flight, and investigated it further. She had found me at the bottom of the sinkhole, and promptly alerted the Pearl Clan, who were able to save me in time. I am here today because of them.” Ingo slumped back from the fire, relaxing a little as he put the worst of the events behind him.

The icy winds and frozen hills faded away as he returned to the warmth of the campfire, safe within the mirelands and surrounded by good company.

“Now of course, Draugr left its mark on me in other, lasting ways; the tracks to recovery were long and difficult, and I almost faltered at one point… though, that is a line we can board another time. I consider myself extremely lucky to come away from it with merely a sore back and lasting scar-”

“Show the battlescar!” A few from the crowd requested, turning it into a demand as the rest joined in - even the few who had heard the story before were not aware of this detail. “Show it! Show it!”

Ingo scoffed a little at their label. He hardly considered it a battlescar, as the brutal attack had been so one-sided that he couldn’t really even call it a battle… more appropriately, it was just a beat down.

“Alright,” With a sigh, Ingo relented; at one time, he would have flat-out refused to show it or even talk about it. But with time and some physical healing, it had gotten a bit easier.

Pulling his coat back, Ingo loosened his belt and lifted his upper layers to turn and expose the extensive gash that raked over his side, reaching across to his lower back. The firelight helped illuminate where sharp, gnarled ice had cleaved through skin and muscle.

The sight earned a mixture of exaggerated gross-out sounds from the kids, though it was clear they were thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. Akari however, grimaced slightly; she never liked looking at it.

All things considered, it honestly wasn’t that grizzly; it was now simply a scar. But she didn’t like visualizing the events that caused it…something that was much easier to do now, with the new, detailed version of the narrative that Ingo had just shared.

“There,” Ingo smoothed his layers back down and situated his belt back in place over them, once again concealing the external damage under thick fabric. It couldn’t be seen by anyone like that, and easily forgotten about. Akari preferred it that way. “Well, that is about all I can share; I appreciated your undivided attention. I had not been prepared to express it this way tonight, I do hope this version was satisfactory?”

“Yeah!” The group of children clapped, having thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and thanked him - it brought an upward quirk to Ingo’s frown, knowing they enjoyed it even in its more detailed state.

“Do you have any more stories like that?” One of them asked before the group could even finish their round of appreciation.

“Ah, well,” Ingo did, but none of them could probably top the one he just told. And plus, he wanted to share the spotlight, in case someone else had any stories of their own to tell. “I’m afraid not; however, Miss Zisu might have a story or two she’d be willing to share? She’s had some rather remarkable experiences herself.”

Every head in the group immediately turned to Zisu, who had been sitting silent on the tree stump next to Ingo, deeply invested in his narrative up to that point.

“A story from me?” The woman smiled, sitting up straighter. “Well let’s see, I’ve got quite a few of those… you want to hear about the time I took on an ursaring with my bare hands after they wiped out all my Pokémon? Or, the time I handled the steelix that had been attacking our construction corps, back when Jubilife Village was being built? Oh I’ve got quite a scar from that one, makes Ingo’s look like a paper cut!”

The friendly jabbing made Ingo huff a laugh. Most of the kids immediately divided amongst themselves on what story they wanted to hear, while one or two called out for both. However, they quickly fell into silence, heads turning at the sound of something snapping in the distance, past the outskirts of camp where the light could reach.

The soft crackling of the fire became much more noticeable as everyone sat still, waiting with bated breath to see if the sound would repeat.

Another snap of a branch, still distant in the surrounding darkness, but seemingly closer this time.

A tense murmur rose up between the children, who sprung from their stillness to move closer to the campfire, closer to Ingo and Zisu.

“Is that..?” Olli didn’t even have to finish his sentence for the murmurs to grow into concerned questioning - everyone was thinking the same thing. His excitement was gone, now replaced with a wariness, just as Akari had earlier expected.

“Hold on,” Ingo moved to stand up with a sense of purpose, the first to move away from the campfire rather than towards it. “I presume it is simply a wild Pokémon, but there is also the possibility that the Miss Fortune Sisters are returning to the area. In which case…”

The warden halted at the edge of the campfire’s light, looking back over his shoulder.

“I will return shortly. And, ah, Miss Akari..?”

At his request for her to join him, the teenager immediately rose from her place beside Rei, and took up the space by his side. Ember followed behind quickly, and Ingo continued into the darkness with Akari and her companion there to help light the way.

“Be careful!” Zisu called after them.

The sounds of the group’s startled murmuring amongst the crackling fire faded away as Ingo and Akari pushed further into the dark mirelands, the night sounds of the area replacing them. Crisp autumn wind whistled gently through the leaves of trees and bushes, and rustled the copious amounts of damp leaves piled up on the ground. Somewhere in the distance, the chirping of a kricketune was heard, and the gurgling of crogunk occasionally repeated. Muffled chittering from lethargic paras nests under the ground was faint in the area.

Ingo kept quiet as his hand went to his waist, holding near the pokeballs he kept in the lining of his coat. Akari periodically focused on Ember’s flames that dimly lit the area, a little concerned that she would possibly see something peering back through the darkness, and it wouldn’t be a Pokémon.

Ingo expressed quite the opposite, squinting to try and see if he could make any explicit forms or movements out in the distance, without the help of the moon’s light.

They waited in prolonged silence as they stopped a short ways away from the campsite, listening for another ominous snap to ring out amongst the mirelands’ night ambience. But as one minute strained into two, then to three…

“...Maybe whatever was out here left,” Akari suggested, her hushed voice cutting through the darkness. It was becoming clear that there were no Pokémon nearby, and in all honesty, she was eager to get back to the light; against her best efforts, her dread was beginning to grow.

Akari heard Ingo hum in acknowledgement, his back turned to her as he continued to search between the trees quite boldly. “Whatever was out here might have since departed, but I would like to make absolutely sure that is the case before returning to our station, to ensure the safety of our passengers.”

A breeze weaved between the trees, picking up a few damp leaves from off the ground, and sticking them against Akari’s legs. She shook them off as she moved closer to Ingo’s side, Ember’s glow following behind.

“You think it’s either a person or a Pokémon, right?” Akari risked the question through another whisper, though she lost her steam halfway through, becoming rather self-conscious. “Because the kids think, well…”

She was unsure how to finish that sentence in a way that didn’t sound silly.

“After listening to young Olli’s fascinations all through dinner, I believe I now see why you advised against sharing ghost stories.” Heavy black shoes took several more steps into the darkness.

“…Do you believe in ghosts, Ingo?”

Silence stretched amongst them for a moment, save for the mirelands’ ambience. Even if she couldn’t see him well, Akari could tell Ingo was fiddling with his cap by the brim. He always did that when he stopped to consider something.

“I…have yet to experience an encounter with one. Or observe anything that undoubtedly cements their existence. But I have not decided to disregard it as a possibility, just yet.” The man summarized his thoughts. “Though, I strongly suspect that is not one of the possible presences out here with us right now.”

Another silence fell between them, though this time it only helped the two notice disembodied whispering off in the darkness, off to the left and out of reach of Ember’s illumination.

Ice filled Akari’s veins as she reflexively moved her head to lock eyes with Ingo. He turned back at her to do the same, bringing a finger up to signify silence.

The indecipherable whispering quickly grew more incensed, until it was cut off with an inaudible word hissed through clenched teeth. The following silence became morbid and dreadful, with the expectation that something was about to happen.

“What-” do we do? The rest of the whisper didn’t get the chance to leave Akari’s mouth before she saw pale hands, pairs of them, break the edge of the darkness. They wrapped around any part of Ingo that they could grasp; he made a sound of surprise, but was cut off as the hands wrenched him backwards. A heavy sound as he presumably heaved onto the ground, before being hauled out of sight and into the choking murk.

Within one shocking moment, Akari and Ember were left alone in the circle of dim light.

“...Ingo!” Akari’s heart leapt into her throat as she finally got her vocal cords working again. She realized she had locked up. Seconds felt like minutes…how long had she been standing there?

Ember yowled as she rushed forward and lept into the surrounding bushes after the warden, and whatever grabbed him. Akari hurried after her companion to stay in the light.

Pulling back the foliage, Akari came across clumps of wet leaves, stamped down into the damp dirt. Various tracks littered the area, where something (someone) had been pulled through the mud, clearly against their will - Ingo had indeed been dragged off, but he had put up a fight. The edge of the area gave way to the black waters of the river nearby, and Akari could see the drag tracks (so many trails…why were there so many trails through the mud going the same direction?) leading closer and closer to the edge…

…where they ended at the wooden bridge leading to the other side of the river, largely obscured in darkness.

“Ingo!” Akari called out to the other side. “Ingo!”

There was no answer above the rushing of the waters, just the kricketune in the hills, and the crogunk off in the distant bog.

What was strong enough to drag a grown man off like that so quickly?

“Ingo!” Akari dared to take a few steps across the wooden logs.

Hopelessness quickly began to settle in her chest, heavy and suffocating as her head grew staticky. What if Ingo wasn’t even across the bridge? What if he was further down the hill? Or, did he fall into the river? No, she would have heard a splash…but what if she just didn’t hear it-?

Akari’s mind raced with hypotheticals of Ingo getting mauled by a wild Pokémon, or succumbing to the depths of the river, but deep down, she knew none of them really held water - If his campfire story recounting his experience with Dragur was anything to go by, Ingo was a very strong, hardy person. He could handle anything.

No, the hypotheticals were really just a subconscious coverup to try and distract her from her real fear - that the Solaceon Ruins really did house an apparition, and it had just dragged Ingo back to the structure, exactly as it had done with Cyllene the year before.

Ember barked from behind Akari, still at the scene of the initial struggle. The teenager turned to her companion as she nudged a pokeball out from under the mess, dirtied with mud as it lay amongst the leaves.

It appeared Ingo had grabbed for it but accidentally dropped it during the scuffle, having failed to release his companion in time.

Akari picked it up and quickly freed the contained creature; out emerged Gliscor, Ingo’s ace. Leather flapped and branches creaked as appendages latched onto a nearby tree. It chittered cautiously as bright yellow eyes accustomed to the darkness searched the area, immediately wondering where its partner was.

“Gliscor!” Akari called up to the Pokémon as she tucked its pokeball away. “Something took Ingo, and I can’t see where he was taken, or…what even took him! Please, help me find him!”

Gliscor’s wide eyes gained an understanding quality as it screeched, and launched itself off its branch. A few quiet flaps, and it was gliding above the trees, scanning the area with fervor.

“Come on, Ember!” Footfalls squelched against muddy patches as Akari turned on her heels, running back for the firelight. With Gliscor out actively looking for Ingo, Akari needed to go back and get help.

————

“What if the ghost lured them out there on purpose, to grab one of them up?”

“Olli, that’s not what happened,” Rei felt like he was recycling through different versions of the same reassurance over and over, in order to keep the rest of the group calm. But, that was hard to do once Akari’s panicked shouts calling out for Ingo made its way back to the campsite. The children had quickly started hypothesizing what happened, and what had been lurking out there…and thanks to Olli, they were all leaning heavily on the phantasmic side.

“It could be trying to finish whatever was interrupted with Ms. Cyllene last time!”

Rei sighed as Pikachu moved from one shoulder to the other. “I’m sure it’ll all under control-”

“-Zisu!” Akari’s voice rang out from the darkness again, this time much closer to the campsite. “Zisu! Ingo, he…something grabbed him, and I couldn’t- I sent Gliscor, but…across the river-!”

Akari’s words were as unorganized and breathless as herself, emerging from the darkness with Ember to reconvene with the group.The teen moved to lean against a tree, but it was obvious she was not planning to sit down.

“-Something dragged him away, and I can’t find him!”

“Hang on, Akari-” Miss Zisu attempted to calm the teen down, but her efforts were interrupted.

“I knew it!” Olli exclaimed - that was enough for the rest of the group to start shouting. “The ghost got him!

“It wasn’t a ghost! It-” Akari realized she really had no idea what it was, having been so heavily obscured by darkness. But from what little she had seen, it certainly didn’t seem like any Pokémon she was familiar with, and she was familiar with just about every Pokémon in the region. “-just had a lot of…of hands, and, and…oh, come on, we need to-!”

A scream was heard far off, disrupting the mirelands’ nature ambience. It was certainly human enough, nothing like the calls of a Pokémon, not even ones that tried to imitate humans. Though-

“That was not Ingo,” Akari tried not to pay attention to the new round of anxious hypothesizing from the kids, exclaiming it was the wail of the ghost. They were already wasting important time, and now she definitely knew Ingo was not alone out there. Having caught enough of her breath, Akari moved to venture back out into the darkness. “We have to go back out there and find him! Come on!”

“Akari! Breathe, it’ll be alright; you’ll find him. Rei, go with her,” Zisu urged the teens. “Someone has to stay with the group; you go on ahead with Akari, I’ll stay here.”

Rei nodded in affirmation, and the two moved to rush back into the treeline. Both teens and their partner Pokémon disappeared into the darkness, taking off in the direction of the Solaceon Ruins.

“Be careful, and watch where you’re going! Can’t get Ingo back here if you end up hurting yourselves!” Zisu called after them. It was a rather forward statement, but a genuine one.

Perla tapped on Zisu’s arm as the group of kids shuffled closer to her, in a long stretch of tense silence. “What do we do?”

“Well,” The woman crossed her arms. “All we can do is stay here, and…wait.”

Zisu had urgently wanted to go with Akari and Rei, and help them find Ingo. Waiting around was the last thing she wanted to do, but she knew she couldn’t go off with the two and leave the rest of the group here. Not after something managed to snatch up Ingo of all people. And it would be reckless to drag a group of-

Wait.

There were supposed to be six kids here. So why were there-

Zisu immediately began a headcount, mentally separating the children clustered close together.

Olli, Perla, Janie, Lon, Bren…

Zisu frowned as she restarted the headcount, once, then twice. The children noticed her counting them, and began to glance amongst themselves, slowly realizing why she was recounting.

“Where’s Vessa?”

————

“It happened right over here!”

Dim light once again drove away the darkness that enveloped the site of the struggle, leaves still stamped in the ground. Akari and Rei pushed through the foliage.

“I found Gliscor’s pokeball here, so I sent them off to find Ingo, but I don’t know if-” Deep breath. “-if they found him yet.”

“This is just like what happened with Cyllene,” Rei leaned against a tree to wipe some accumulating sweat off his brow - he was certainly spry, but Akari was hard to keep up with even for him. “Same…same tracks and everything.”

His words did not ease Akari’s conscience at all.

“Well then come on! They lead to the bridge!” Akari took off running, following the tracks leading to the river’s edge. Ember rushed after to keep the way illuminated, and Rei hurried behind, Pikachu on his shoulder.

Pushing through the foliage, Akari could no longer contain the thoughts that terrorized her. What if she had made the wrong choice to go back to camp and get help? What if Gliscor hadn’t found Ingo, and he had been dragged away? What if the same thing that had attacked Cyllene had now gone after Ingo…and this time, it finished the job?

What if the kids were right, and it was a wilderness apparition that the ruins housed?

Pushing past the last tree standing in the way, Akari finally reached the wooden bridge. And again there was the strange multitude of drag tracks, leading right to it but simultaneously trailing off into all different directions.

A moment of doubt mixed with Akari’s terror - was this even the right way?

No, she knew exactly where Ingo was. The murky silhouette of the Solaceon Ruins’ entrance jutted out against the dark night sky, a deep black cliffside against a dim, deep haze. She knew Ingo was there, even though every part of her wished he was somewhere else.

“Across the bridge, Rei!” Dread grabbed at her ankles in an attempt to weigh her down, but Akari shook it off and ran across the bridge with Ember at her feet, Rei somewhere behind her.

The thin tallgrass whipped against her legs as she continued to run towards the cavernous entrance into the ruins, the drag tracks still leading beneath her shoes just as she dreaded. Ember started to fall behind, and Rei was no longer with them. As awful as it would have been to hear, there were no sounds of a scuffle anywhere, and no instances of Ingo’s voice. There was lots of distant, collective chittering though - almost like a rumbling.

Had Ingo already been dragged into the ruins? Was it too late? Had the ghost already stolen his shadow? Or locked him away in some darkness so deep, that no one would be able to find him? Or-

“Ingo!” Akari’s eyes slightly adjusted to the dimness of the overcast night as she forced herself to keep running towards the looming ruins. “Are you out here?”

Deep down, Akari was hoping for an answer, but her shallower feelings discouraged her from expecting one, and her surface-level instincts scolded her for drawing the attention of any nearby wild Pokémon to herself. But she didn’t know what else to do-

“Ingo!” She called out into the murk again.

“Miss Akari?” The murk answered back, distant. “I’m over here!”

The familiar voice pulled Akari’s emergency brakes, and she almost slipped with the sudden stop through the slick grass. Willing herself to regain her balance as Ember stumbled beside her, the teen searched around intently for the source of the voice…

…And there was Ingo, on the hill leading up to the gaping chasm of the Solaceon Ruins. She almost missed him, with the pitch-black entrance to the ruins behind him. It was clear he was winded from his posture, though he thankfully seemed unhurt, for the most part. A spark of emotion jumped in Akari’s chest, seeing that he was still here, alive and well.

“Ingo!” Akari cried out as she rushed up the hill, reaching his side and grabbing onto him tightly; Ember yipped excitedly as she ran behind. Akari’s relief over the sight of him momentarily overrode her driving fears of the ethereal, or else she might have been cautious that he was the apparition in disguise. Though, he felt much too solid and comforting for that to even be an afterthought. “You’re ok!”

“A little shaken, but I am quite alright;” I apologize for that unscheduled departure earlier!” Ingo’s hands were shaking a little, though it seemed more like an unwanted after-effect of adrenaline rather than fear. They shuddered against her shoulder as he attempted to still her, especially when she started trying to pull him with her, away from the deep darkness of the Solaceon Ruins’ entrance.

“The ghost didn’t drag you into the ruins? Where is it-? Oh, nevermind! Come on, we’ve got to go before it comes back!” Akari’s words were going a mile a minute.

“Miss Akari-!” Ingo resisted her pull. “There is no hurry! This was not the doing of an apparition at all; rather, I was correct with my prior suspicions!”

Akari stopped tugging, though her grip on his coat held tight, a look of bewilderment settling on her features. The chill under her fingertips finally penetrated her attention, and Akari belatedly realized that Ingo’s coat sleeve was covered in patches of frost, as were the rest of his clothes.

He was shaking from the cold.

“What..?” Akari watched the clinging frost melt from her fingertips, before moving the brush the rest of it off of his coat. “What do you mean? What is this from?”

“It is surprisingly cold being trapped within the arms of an abomasnow, I must admit.” Ingo’s disposition seemed almost rueful as he wiped the last of the frost from off his shoulders. Ember pressed up against one of his legs in an effort to warm him.

Akari struggled to process what Ingo had just said. “Wait…an abomasnow? Out here?”

The only people Akari knew who had an abomasnow were-

“The Miss Fortune Sisters were responsible for my abduction.” Ingo confirmed Akari’s quickly-growing suspicions. “As I suspected, they were returning to the campsite in hopes of staying there, but when they saw it was already occupied, they changed plans to thievery. You and I happened to be in an opportune place for ambush, and… I was the closest within reach. They were quick to remove my Pokémon from off of me, and it was impossible to fend them off three against one at that point, especially once their abomasnow detained me within the ruins.”

“Well where are they?” Akari began to fret again, looking around for any sign of the bandits. “Do they still have your Pokémon?”

Ember growled as cinders wafted from her coat, ready to defend.

“Ah, not at the moment.” Ingo shook his head. “In fact, they don’t even have their own; I’m afraid their Pokémon were knocked out of commission in their haste to fight off my inadvertent rescuers, who arrived moments before Gliscor, and yourself.”

Rescuers..?

Down the hill and closer to a cluster of trees and tallgrass, another shout rang out, remarkably similar to what Akari heard at the camp earlier. The teen started when she spotted what looked like a remarkable amount of paras gathered around a tree. Gliscor’s silhouette fluttered around it, occasionally gliding down low to swipe at the horde, while dodging wayward spurts of static spores.

So that’s where the chittering had come from.

“Call your gliscor off!” One of the bandits' voices yelled out from the branches, now recognizable as Clover.

“If he withdraws, then there will be nothing to stop the paras from overtaking the tree, and you three with it!” Ingo called back to them.

Even after what they had done, Ingo was keeping them safe. There were no further calls to withdraw Gliscor.

“They did not account for all of the paras nests they disrupted and trampled in their haste to drag me back. Lots of persistent enemies were made quickly.” Ingo shook his head, grimacing at the recollection. “One of them, rather large.”

The unmistakable deep rumbling of an alpha’s bellow was heard. Down the hill, Akari could make out the enormous mass of an overgrown paras rearing up and separating itself from the horde. A variety of different mushrooms festered on its backside, leeching nutrients from its hulking body as gnarled, armored claws grasped at the air. It heaved itself up against the tree, enough to shake it at its base. The jostling caused another round of shouts from one of the bandits.

Akari immediately recognized that alpha paras as the same one she had encountered several times before within this section of the mirelands. Its spore attacks were as nasty as its disposition, and more than once, it had tried to grab her when she wandered too close to its nest. It had even pursued her a few times, to her horror. Akari considered herself lucky that she was a fast sprinter; unfortunate was the person who would succumb to that alpha’s gnarled rows of thin, sharp teeth, or those long, spindly legs, or-

Several things clicked together at once in Akari’s head.

“…Ingo, I think I know what attacked Cyllene last year, now.”

Ingo made a sound of surprise at the proposal, before heavy footfalls were heard behind them; Rei had finally caught up to them, Pikachu holding tight onto his shoulder.

“Mr. Ingo, you’re ok-!” The boy called out with strained breaths as he hurried up the hill towards them. “I was so worried that…that you’d ended up like Cyllene, or…worse! Good thing Akari already-“

The teen barely made it to the top of the hill, clearly winded, before he observed the waves of paras around the tree, and their furious fungal-infested alpha trying to swipe Gliscor away.

“-woah, that is a giant paras..!”

————

“So they were using the ruins as a temporary hideout?”

“Correct,” Ingo affirmed. “They planned to move their base back to the campgrounds, but were unable to do so with us there. So, they decided to try and pick us off one at a time, and take what they could.”

Ingo walked with Rei and Akari by his side, recounting the finer details of everything that had happened (and catching Rei up on everything he had missed) as they made their way back to the log bridge, leaving the Solaceon Ruins behind them.

The two had helped Ingo locate the rest of his pokeballs amongst the piles of other poor victims’ stolen goods within the dark ruins, once they had driven back the paras. Unfortunately, the Miss Fortune Sisters had decided it was more important to get away rather than to try and take back their stolen items: as soon as the trio had landed back on solid ground, smoke bombs were used, and they were gone.

“Though they were rather disappointed when they found I didn’t have any belongings of value on me, once they separated me from my Pokémon.” Ingo’s frown didn’t hide the slight amusement in his voice.

He recalled how the three bandits had started shouting amongst each other that they had ‘grabbed the wrong one’, and should have made an effort to take Akari instead - she always had tons of valuable things on her. They only became more frustrated when they attempted to intimidate Ingo with empty threats; all it did was make him confess that he was satisfied they had grabbed him up instead of her.

“It started quite an argument… loud enough that the paras whose nests they destroyed were able to easily find them. They overwhelmed the Sisters and their Pokémon quite easily, then pursued them up that tree. I would have been a target as well, had Gliscor not arrived when he did, and warded them off… I am thankful you recovered his pokeball and sent him for me when you did, Miss Akari.”

“I’m just glad he found you in time.” The teen admitted, relieved she had made the right choices.

“What are we going to do about all the stolen stuff in the ruins?” Rei wondered, eyeing the river as they came up beside it.

“We should make an effort to return the stolen items to their owners.” Ingo placed a hand on his chin as he walked, contemplating the right thing to do. “I did not intend for this trip to turn into a supply run, but I suppose we’ll make a stop by the ruins tomorrow morning to take what we can back with us, and request the Ginkgo Guild to come out and pick up the rest - I suspect the Miss Fortune Sisters must have been stationed out here for a long time, stealing from the guild just as much as lone travelers, in order to amass a collection of that size.”

“You don’t think they’ll come back to take what’s left before then, right?”

“I trust the paras will not let them return to the station for a good while.”

“Man, wait till everyone hears about all this back at the campsite,” Rei laughed. “Olli’s gonna be disappointed there was no ghost, though!”

“No ghost, but an alpha paras is just as terrifying, I think!” Akari shuddered. “If that’s what dragged Cyllene away, no wonder she won’t talk about it…”

A sudden thought occurred to Akari.

“Um, you think we should leave that part out when we talk about this with the others?”

“To preserve dignity, ah, perhaps it would be best.” Ingo steadily agreed, folding his arms behind him. Children could be ruthless with information like that. Even if they weren’t all aware of the captain’s intense phobia of bug-types, he was sure Cyllene would not appreciate the village children coming back and laughing at her for being attacked by a paras… even if it was an alpha. “It’s enough of a thrilling experience without it anyways, though perhaps a kind that should not be repeated. I’ll look into suggesting setting up a site elsewhere for next year, if we cannot secure unauthorized groups from using it.”

Both good ideas, Akari thought. She hoped what had happened here tonight wouldn’t lead to a repeat of what happened last year, and send all the potential recruits running for different corps. A lot happened, but at least they could all come away from this experience knowing that this certainly was not the doing of a ghost.

The Solaceon Ruins? Just creepy.

The wailing of a ghost? Just the Miss Fortune Sisters.

The ghost itself, dragging off people in the night? Again, the Miss Fortune Sisters, and an irritable alpha paras.

…And in the end, most likely a story Mara had made up just to try and scare Olli, as well as justify her own fright of the alpha paras.

Nothing about this trip had proven that ghosts existed.

Finally, the darkness revealed the sturdy log bridge leading back to the other side; they were almost at the campgrounds. Ingo led the way across, and Rei followed, but before Akari could set a foot on the structure, she felt a tap on her back.

With a sudden fright, Akari whirled around to see who, or what, was behind her. It wasn’t a ghost, or even a ghost Pokémon, but the sight didn’t bewilder Akari any less.

Standing behind her was the group’s extra passenger, positioned stiff in the dark with her finger still held out. Though, the friendly expression on her face managed to disarm Akari’s sudden terror, somewhat.

“Vessa!” The teen felt the tight bundle of cords in her chest start to loosen. “Why are you…how did you get out here-?”

“I was waiting for you!” The small girl replied, acting more like a party host welcoming a late guest, rather than a girl who was waiting in the dark wilderness. “They’re here now, and I told you I’d help you find them when they came!”

She pointed behind her, into the darkness that enveloped a diverging path traveling upstream.

The loosened cords in Akari’s chest somewhat tightened again. “Vessa, we need to get you back to camp, I’m sure Zisu’s-“

In the darkness, a faint purple glow pulsed. It was gentle and soft, and stopped Akari in her tracks.

Strangely enough, it did not frighten her. Instead, it instilled an odd sense of longing, and melancholy.

“Miss Akari?” Ingo called from at the end of the bridge. “Are you following? Is everything alright?”

“Um,” Akari fumbled to give a quick response. “Yes! Everything’s fine! I just…”

“Just you!” Vessa whispered to her, so quietly that she barely heard it. “They can’t come. But it will be quick.”

Akari didn’t like the sound of that at all.

But… something about that glow. It held a sad sort of comfort. And Vessa… something tugged on the teen’s heart, telling her she could be trusted.

“…I think I dropped something in the grass over here,” Akari finished her sentence, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. “Can you…and Rei wait there for a moment? I’ll be right there!”

“If you’re…certain it’s safe,” Ingo’s voice sounded uneasy, but she knew he trusted her judgment enough.

“Just make sure you don’t upset another paras nest!” Rei called back, taking the situation much more lightly.

“Alright,” Akari took a deep breath, and moved to follow Vessa off the path, towards the soft purple light. “It really needs to be quick though.”

As Vessa led the way, the river narrowed the trail against a cliffside. Looking across the dark river, Akari could see the light of the campfire on the other bank; this spot is exactly we’re Vessa had pointed to earlier.

They finally reached a clearing where the trail cut off at a dead end, and right at the center of the area was the source of purple light - a radiant ball of…fire? Akari didn’t know what to call it, exactly; strands of light slowly floated off of its glowing center, which hung suspended in the air. The melancholy atmosphere weighed heavier, but there was also a sense of tired relief. A sense of being found.

Akari had seen this before, back at the village once. When Vessa had shown her…

“A wisp?” Akari questioned aloud. She admitted she had forgotten about Vessa’s request until this moment; the girl had asked her to seek out wisps like this one in the wilderness, but this was the first one Akari had actually come across outside of Jubilife; she had admittedly begun to disregard Vessa’s request as a playful trick of sorts.

“She only comes out at night, but she was hoping you’d come get her.” Vessa explained, stepping aside. “I wanted to help.”

The wisp’s glow flickered.

As horrifying as the concept was of someone leading her to an apparition in the wilderness, Akari didn’t feel terror. She wondered if in part, it had to do with Vessa’s gentle disposition, or the wisp’s strangely comforting presence. Or maybe even the familiarity of having done this before at Jubilife.

There was no danger here.

Akari reached out for the wisp, just as Vessa had shown her to do before. The soft purple flames were warm to the touch, though not uncomfortably so - it reminded Akari of holding Ember close to her.

Akari slowly closed her hands around the glow, and the warmth initially doubled before frosting her fingers with a cold tingling sensation. The light fizzled, and sparks dissipated into the air from between her fingertips.

When she opened her hands, the flame was gone, and so was the melancholy.

“Thank you,” There was audible appreciation in Vessa’s voice as she smiled. “Others are still waiting out there, but she was just getting a little impatient, after being passed by so many times.”

“I’m…sorry,” the words stumbled loosely out of Akari’s mouth as she rubbed the warmth back into her hands. She thought about the handful of times she had been in this area before, and how she’d never once seen the glow in the sunlight.

“Here,” Vessa reached for Akari’s hand. The clearing was left behind as the young girl began to lead her back down the path, towards the bridge. “I’ll lead you back to the bridge.”

The hair on the back of Akari’s neck stood up as she felt Vessa’s terribly cold, frail fingers grasp her own. A certain, hesitant understanding came upon her, but she was unsure if she could believe it.

Again, she was not as fearful as she thought she would be.

“Thank you for letting me stay with you all tonight. It was nice to feel like part of a group again, and for you to go out of your way to make sure I was comfortable.”

Something told Akari she would not feel the small hand in her grasp once they reached the bridge.

“Vessa,” Akari swallowed as the kind, young soul led her through the darkness. “Could you…return with us? Back to camp, and to Jubilife?”

Vessa’s eyes, flickering in the dimness, connected with Akari’s. There was no sound as she stepped over the damp leaves on the ground. The weight of the small, cold hand in hers was light as air.

“You know, I’m sure Zisu is probably panicking right now about where you are, and Ingo would be out searching for you all night. And…”

The bridge became visible as they stepped around a cluster of foliage.

“…I’d like you to stay a little longer, and enjoy your time with us, if you’d like?”

The small fingers in Akari’s hand held on firmly, still there. Her bright eyes were warm as she smiled back at the teen. The wet leaves squelched under her feet, and the logs creaked quietly as she stepped onto it ahead of the teen.

“I’d like that.” Her voice was quiet, but Akari could sense the gratitude. “Thank you.”

At the other end of the bridge, Akari could make out Ingo and Rei’s silhouettes; they had waited for her, just as she asked. But landing beside them, she could make out the bulky silhouette of a new arrival; Zisu’s Honchkrow.

“Miss Akari! Ingo’s voice called out with slight urgency. “Did you find what you were searching for? We should return back to camp quickly; it appears one of the children is missing, as Miss Zisu’s sent her Pokémon out in search of them. We need to join the search post-haste!”