#ut open

"The dragon of truth... Reshiram." Zinnia mumbled to herself as she arranged and rearranged the stones in front of her. "That's me. The yang." The stones all varied in shape, size, and texture, though all of them were relatively small. They were precious to Zinnia. Her little bag of comforting trinkets. She picked up a milky white stone, cut and polished into a smooth oval cabochon, and held it up to a nearby street lamp, examining how it caught the light. 

The park was nearly empty now that the sun was beginning to set. She sat cross-legged in the center of a grassy area, precious stones splayed on a piece of cloth. Salamence dozed behind her, curled partly around where she sat. Aster was tucked neatly in between Zinnia and Salamence's outstretched hind leg, falling asleep.

The study of stones was a long-standing tradition in Draconid culture, thanks to their attunement with the earth and deep ties with Mega Evolution, but Zinnia wasn't thinking about the stones themselves. Her thoughts were with the dragons of Unova, those of truth and ideals, and the concept of alternate universes. The latter was a core Draconid belief, and one Zinnia had never doubted. Long ago, she had encountered a strange, impish creature that summoned golden, sparkling rings and transported objects between realities. She had told no one about it, and she had not encountered the creature since, though she never doubted the existence of other realities since then. It had shown her various images -- no, actual places and times unknown.

She set the stone back down on the cloth, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. "The twin heroes... I wonder, I wonder how the world would differ if one had triumphed over the other." She opened her eyes again, still touching the moonstone. "Well, I suppose they have. In different worlds."

"Three-thousand years ago... what in the world makes that period so inauspicious? Will these times be remembered the same way?" 

Rosalina had never been one to just wander off but she was bored and her escorts weren’t doing anything to quell that. Humming softly as she sent one to go grab her a drink and the other to go find Zoey her little eevee that had “wandered off”. Once both men were out of sight the young heiress grabbed her things and set off down the opposite route.

It was an odd feeling being able to wander the area alone seeing as her family always seemed to have her on a leach, nevertheless she loved them and knew it was only for her own protection. Even if she hated it. It was a nice feeling being free from escorts and estate walls but she didn’t want to get too far from the carriage least she get herself lost, and that’s exactly what happened she’d let Avery out from his pokeball and the little Zoura took off making Rose chase after him.

”Avery come back here we have to be heading back to the carriage or mother and father will be furious.” The little pokemon eventually made its way back to her just in time for Rose to realize she had no idea where they were. “Oh no Avery it seems we’re lost… Not to worry I’m sure I can figure out how to get back, or at least find someone to help us.”

First the thing with the egg, and now this. If Silver didn’t know any better, he’d say Professor Elm was trying to make him an assistant or get him into science or something. Just because he had a pokedex didn’t mean he particularly wanted anything to do with pokemon research. But the professor had offered to pay for the trip, and Silver would get a chance to do something new for training and learning about more pokemon, so he eventually agreed to run the professor’s errand for him.

Thus, Silver found himself in yet another strange land: Kalos. So what was he doing here? He’d be lying to himself if he didn’t say he was doing plain and simple field work. The professor wanted him to go to Kalos to find out more about this silly sounding fairy type pokemon to see if their breeding patterns were similar to other types. He was also supposed to try and find an egg, but ‘only if it didn’t disrupt any wild pokemon habitats.’ How the hell was he supposed to get one then? But the better question was where should he even start looking? He had absolutely no idea what to even look for really.

It had been time to introduce a new element of training for a while now. His team was strong, but they needed to be stronger. Needed to be prepared for any situation. Needed to be the best they could be. And in order to do that, he needed to do something different. Johto was a beautiful, natural land with several areas of strong pokemon, but its climate was generally a cooler one. His team was well suited to cold, but warm conditions were another matter. Neither this region nor the neighboring Kanto had any particularly warmer areas suitable for training, so he decided that his best course of action was to actually visit a different region. One with a vastly different climate. One like Unova.

The huge, bustling port city that was Castelia was ill suited for any training the boy intended, and far too populated for his tastes anyway. Heading a short way north, however, he found the perfect place for his intentions. The large desert that populated route 4 was hot and windy, constantly blowing stinging sand that masked the hiding spots of the hardy pokemon that resided there. It was a completely foreign place to him and his pokemon. It was a harsh, unforgiving environment. It was perfect.

However, as the red haired boy ventured further into the desert, it became apparent that he may have bitten off more than he could chew. His two water types and ice type all struggled greatly in the conditions that sapped them of their strength, and his Murkrow had difficulty navigating the high winds. The exceptions were his Rhyperior and his Larvitar, who seemed to feel right at home in the shifting sand, though only Rhyperior seemed to not mind the glaring sun. But as much as it was enjoying the change in scenery, one thing was very clear: Silver was a long way from home.