“So you’re the one who's got everybody in a tizzy.”

  I swallowed and nodded, looking over at the older woman sitting across from me.

  “I guess so?”

  “You guess so? Either you are or you’re not, there’s no guessing involved.”

  This was going to be a long conversation.

  Cynthia’s grandmother was one Professor Carolina, a former researcher on various legends and myths in Sinnoh. Well, she was supposed to be retired, but evidently the slow life didn’t agree with her, and she’d been continuing to pump out books and research papers for years.

  She had once been a tall woman, although age had caused her to shrink somewhat, but her presence seemed to fill the entire room. Despite the lines on her face and the grey in her hair, there was a fire in her eyes that was honestly inspiring, and I hoped that I could be like that when I was older.

  Professor Carolina looked me up and down, then snorted. “You’re too thin and small to have people talking about you so much. Here.”

  She took out a small tin, and slid it across the table from me. Inside there were some shortbread cookies, shaped to look like Chinglings.

  I took a second look at the Professor’s hairpiece - what I had thought was a beautiful bell and ribbon was actually a Chingling sleeping in her hair.

  “I, uh, thank you?”

  “So, I was enjoying my wonderful retirement when all of a sudden a young man by the name of Roark called me up. He said he had a strange girl with a strange tablet, and he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.”

  “Yes ma’am. I have it with me.”

  “Well, let’s see it.”

  I gulped and took out the Legend Plate from my bag, placing it on the table between us.

  Professor Carolina’s eyes widened, then narrowed as she looked between the Plate and I.

  “I see. May I?”

  She gestured at the Plate.

  “Please ma’am, be my guest.”

  The professor hummed as she picked it up carefully, turning it over in her hands. She was silent for five long minutes as she studied the tablet, then gently placed it back on the table before turning to me.

  “So, you’re not from this world.”

  I nearly choked on a piece of shortbread.

  “I, what? I mean, that would be ridiculous, right?”

  Professor Carolina rolled her eyes. “Please girl, you may be fooling most people, but not me.”

  She tapped the Legend Plate. “My grandmother told me stories of her grandmother, tales that have been passed down through generations of women in my family. I told those same stories to my daughter, who then told them to her daughter. Cynthia took to them more than many of my family have, but she’s still just an amateur when it comes to history.

  “My grandmother’s grandmother told her of a stranger who came to this land long ago, who emerged from a rift in the sky to help the people when things were bad, and Jubilife Village was on the verge of collapse. They went around and collected a bunch of tablets and met with Arceus, apparently.”

  She fixed me with a gimlet eye.

  “But I would imagine you know what I am talking about, don’t you?”

  Pokémon: Legends Arceus.

  I nodded.

  “Good, I don’t have to go over it again then. I’ve told that story so many times it’s becoming old. These old geezers in their ivory towers roll their eyes whenever somebody brings up oral storytelling as a method of passing down history.”

  “Right? It’s like if it wasn’t written down, then it doesn’t exist for them.”

  Her eyes flashed with satisfaction. “Ahah! You get it. I’m guessing you studied history yourself, wherever you came from?”

  “I did, with a focus on women and working-class lives and experiences in what we would call the medieval age. Um, I’m not sure how long ago that was for you, but for us it was about five hundred to over a thousand years ago.”

  Disregarding the fact that the “medieval ages” was an incredibly vague and non-specific description, and was relatively useless as an actual distinguishing time frame.

  “Well good. You understand then. But why call me out here if you know what’s going on?”

  “That’s the thing, I don’t know.” I said. “I don’t know why I’m here, or why the Legend Plate showed up near me. I tried to give it to Roark to be kept safe, but when we were leaving for Canalave City, it just reappeared in my bag.”

  “Really now?” She took a closer look at the tablet. “Well, that’s new to me. I’ve never heard any stories of tablets teleporting around. Then again, grandmother talked about how the stranger gathered them all together, I doubt they were trying to leave any of them behind. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if it really did refuse to leave your side.”

  “Huh?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Arceus is the God of Pokémon, girl. Our two champion deities in Sinnoh are the gods of space and time. We have numerous reported instances of space-time disruptions and rifts, even ones that were written down so that the old men can’t complain about them. If Arceus really wanted this stone to be with you, it’s going to stay with you.”

  “And… you think that Arceus wants it to be with me?”

  She stared over the table at me. “Are you thick, girl? Where did you find this tablet?”

  “When I went down into a cave to investigate some strange reports of Pokémon.”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Right.” She drew the word out. “So you went into a random cave and found the Plate. Something that has been just a myth for generations. And you coincidentally managed to find it, and coincidentally you happen to be from another world. And when you tried to pawn it off to somebody else, it coincidentally managed to reappear back in your bag?”

  I flushed and looked down at the table.

  “Well, when you put it like that…”

  “I can’t say why Arceus wants you to have the Plate, but it does, and it’s willing to bend the rules of the world to make sure that it stays with you.”

  “Oh god.” I stuttered. “That’s, that’s…”

  “A terrifying amount of responsibility?”

  I nodded.

  “Your fear is understandable. I would feel the same way!”

  “But what are they? I don’t even really know.”

  Well, I knew what they were supposed to do in the games - held items to give Arceus a different type.

  “Now that,” Professor Carolina said, leaning back in her chair. “Is a question that even I don’t know the answer to. This is my first time actually seeing one in person, you understand.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh they’re talked about in texts and stories, and apparently there’s a rubbing of one floating around somewhere, but I personally think it’s a hoax. As best as we know, they are, or were, records of ancient humanity in Hisui.”

  “There’s some carving on that one.” I said, and she nodded. “Can you decipher them?”

  The professor spent another long while turning the tablet over in her hands, studying the carvings.

  I’d never really taken a while to investigate them before. While we were in the Grand Underground I’d been too busy with simply trying to survive, and once we had gotten back to Oreburgh it had only been a couple of days until I had passed it off to Roark.

  Honestly, some part of me had been scared to look at it too closely.

  “Well, this looks like ancient text to me. Some of it is understandable, albeit using very dated characters; From all creations, over all creations, does the Original One watch over all. That being, Arceus, of course” Carolina said, distractedly. “But unfortunately, most of it is useless.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Hm? Oh, yes, I suppose you wouldn’t speak it, would you? It appears this tablet serves as a kind of key - not one for opening doors, but for translation. Presumably the other tablets’ text is coded, and without this particular item, they’re just squiggles in rock.”

  She frowned. “That might mean that the rubbing could actually be legitimate. I guess I owe somebody an apology.”

  I rubbed my head and swore. It wasn’t the Legend Plate in that it was legendary, it was named that because it was a legend to translate things.

  “So what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to bring it somewhere? Give it to somebody?”

  Professor Carolina cackled. “I don’t know! Isn’t that so exciting? Every time I think I start to have a handle on the world we live in, something else proves me wrong. I can’t answer that question for you girl, and I don’t know if anybody else can.”

  My shoulders slumped. “So what was all this for? Nothing?”

  “No. Not nothing.” Her voice was softer than it had been. “I understand this must seem like a lot, and it is. However, while I don’t have many answers, I can help alleviate some of your concerns.”

  Professor Carolina held up a finger. “First, I will talk to that young whippersnapper Roark for you. I’ll explain what I can, and tell him to buzz off about the rest.”

  Another finger went up. “Next, I will ask around to see if anybody else has heard about these kinds of Plates. I’ll try and get a copy of the rubbing I mentioned earlier, and hopefully can find some more. I still have some contacts from my university days, though most are older than me.” She cackled at the thought.

  “And finally, here.” She fumbled in a pocket, then came out with a folded piece of paper. “My address and house phone number. I don’t have one of those fancy modern cell phones, so don’t bother trying to reach me anywhere else. If you ever need anything, come to Celestic Town. I might know a couple other old women who can help out with anything you might need.”

  “I… Thank you, ma’am.”

  It wasn’t exactly what I had been looking for. I would rather that she would take the Legend Plate away from me, or at least give me a proper task or even a quest of some kind.

  But apparently things were never that easy.

  “Relax girl. Things are never as dire as they look. This may not have seemed like a productive session, but I will let you know when I learn more.”

  Her eyes glinted. “And I will learn more.”

  “But first;” She reached back into her pocket and pulled out another item. “Here, to help cheer you up. Do you mind if I take a rubbing of this Plate? I think I have some supplies in my bag.”

  As she reached deep into her purse, I took a look at the item she’d passed to me, and sighed.

  I guess in every universe grandmothers were the same.

  Professor Carolina held a piece of paper over the tablet and began rubbing it with a chunk of charcoal, and I popped the caramel candy into my mouth while I waited.

  It was as hard as a rock.

  /^\

  Canalave City was truly beautiful at night.

  While in the day time all the different architectural styles tended to clash, when the sun set and the street lamps kicked on, everything looked almost magical.

  Every street we walked through seemed to be from different countries and time periods, brought together by the warm orange lights. Jubilife City had reminded me a little bit of Boston, where there was always life and movement at night, even if it wasn’t as busy as New York City.

  Canalave, however, was different.

  Oh there was some life to the city at night, to be sure, but it was more subdued, quieter. Instead of cars rushing their way down the streets, trolleys trundled their way down their tracks, with a few tired looking people and Pokémon briefly available through the windows.

  Every few blocks there was a corner store, open signs illuminated by harsher neon lights compared to the warm street lamps.

  There were a few people walking around, either late night walkers like myself, salarymen getting back from their work, or the odd teenager walking to one of those corner stores for some late-night snacks.

  If there were any trucks around, I would have told them to be careful.

  It was a good thing that I was a night owl instead of a morning person, because otherwise living with Venus after her evolution might have been a bit difficult.

  Right now she was currently prancing down the street ahead of me, yellow lights glowing in the near-darkness.

  Every now and again her rabbit-like ears would perk up as she heard one thing or another, and then the circles would disappear as she started to stalk whatever had caught her attention. The first time she had done that it had scared the wits out of me, as she had completely blended into the night.

  I had frantically called out her name, only for her to appear right by my side, cocking her head like she didn’t know what was wrong.

  Now, it was just something I had to get used to.

  Yawning, I checked my watch, only to blink and sigh. It was already past midnight, we’d been taking a walk for the past hour or so.

  “Alright Venus, come on, it’s time to get back to the hotel.”

  When she didn’t yip in response, I looked up to see… nothing. She had pulled another one of her disappearing tricks.

  I sighed, and checked the nearby alleyway. It took a second, and I thought she had vanished completely, but then I saw a slightly darker patch of black near the dumpster.

  “Come on Venus, time to go.”

  I saw the patch of darkness freeze.

  “I can see you, you know.”

  Then I heard it, something crunching between teeth.

  “Are you eating something?”

  I squinted, and thought I saw a dirty sandwich wrapper.

  “Hey! Drop it!”

  The chewing sped up as I chased her down the alley.