Mid-week upload, why not.

  PARAGON

  Hisui Incursion Arc [24]

  Chapter 76 : One Month Later

  Alabaster Icelands, one month later

  Snow blustered about, tearing through the air on streams of cold mountain wind, but luckily, Sabrina, Akari, and Yura were dressed for even worse. Thick coats of maroon wool kept the cold at bay, their furred hoods thick and large enough to stave off the carnivorous snow.

  “Careful,” Sabrina said, offering a hand to Yura as they hiked up a rocky path. Yura took her hand and Sabrina pulled her up over a stone that jutted out on the path.

  Due to the narrowness of the path, they walked in single file up the hill, with Sabrina in front, Yura behind her, and Akari bringing up the rear. Rei’s Growlithe loped through the snow behind them, ever vigilant for any potential attackers.

  They’d departed from the Pearl Settlement two weeks ago, once Sabrina was fully recovered. Though they’d protested, Irida ordered Gaeric to guide them west, across the northern plains of Avalugg’s Legacy, up to a certain point, and he’d parted with them a bit over a week ago.

  Try not to die without me! he’d said as he left.

  But they were as prepared as could be. Even though they were minutes away from reaching their destination, they still had plenty of food, water, and other supplies. And Irida had also furnished them with a detailed map showing the locations and movement patterns of every Alpha Pokémon in the Icelands. Thanks to that, they hadn’t encountered a single one. Additional information from Gaeric about the normal wild pokémon of the region made their journey nearly effortless.

  Of course, that didn’t mean they were careless.

  Sabrina crested the top of the hill, and the alleviation of climbing a slope to finally setting foot on flat ground was euphoric. Due to how warmly she was bundled, she was sweating beneath her clothes and was eager to peel out of a layer or two once she could confirm they were safe.

  Her eyes widened upon seeing something at the hill’s peak and thrust her hand out, blocking Yura and Akari from continuing forward. Sensing the change in atmosphere, Growlithe growled.

  As the seconds went by, Sabrina’s heart rate calmed and she slowly lowered her hand. “Sorry. Come on up.” Again, she helped Yura up.

  Half buried in the snow was an enormous gray boulder-ish pokémon, pocked with dark holes. A black horn stuck out on its head, but its entire body seemed to be just head, and a menacing face stared at them blankly.

  “Oh my goodness,” Akari breathed. “That’s a Glalie. But it’s asleep. Or…”

  “Defeated,” Sabrina agreed. She walked toward it, but sensed no response. With a calmer head, she could now see a layer of snow covering the creature’s head on top, meaning it’d been sitting here in the snow for some time.

  “It’s huge…” Yura breathed. “Is it an Alpha Pokémon?”

  “I think so,” Akari said, approaching Glalie with a bit more caution. “Normally, they’re a fraction of this size.”

  Sabrina had never seen a Glalie before so she had no point of reference for how big they usually were, but Akari was a lot more familiar with Hisui’s pokémon than her, so if she said it was an Alpha, then Sabrina would defer to her. This one looked to be about the size of a house.

  “What could’ve done this to it?” Sabrina said. “Another Alpha Pokémon?”

  “No, sorry. That was me.”

  A man trudged through the snow around Glalie’s body and raised his hand at the girls nonchalantly. He was dressed in a thick olive coat and wore leather gloves. His hair was a dark gray and was slicked back, and he wore a stony expression on his aged face. His gait was relaxed, completely non-threatening, and he even kicked the Glalie lightly as he passed it.

  Akari bore holes into him with her gaze, gripping her pokéballs tightly, but he ignored her. Growlithe stared at him warily, but didn’t attack.

  Sabrina took a step forward. “Are you Raphael, by any chance?”

  The man’s gaze hung on her for a few moments, but surprisingly, Sabrina could discern nothing from it. His demeanor was utterly neutral.

  “I am.” He glanced between the three of them, and his brows twitched ever so slightly upon seeing Yura. “Who’s asking?”

  “I’m Sabrina. This is Yura and Akari,” she said, motioning to them. “We’re…members of the Sanctuary’s Survey Corps.”

  Raphael glanced at Yura again. “Is that right?” He looked back at Sabrina, unperturbed. “I’ve heard of the Survey Corps, and their abnormally young members, but this is the first I’m seeing it in person.” He crossed his arms. “What can I help you with? You’re lucky you caught me. I was just about to head out again.”

  Sabrina pursed her lips. Nothing, really. We only came out here to see if you were actually Sir Aaron using a pseudonym. “Um…this might be a strange question, but do you have anything to do with Sir Aaron?” Sabrina’s face burned with embarrassment as she asked the question, but she reminded herself that if he said no, they could turn around and she’d never see him again.

  Raphael’s brows tightened. “The Hero, huh? That certainly is a bit of a strange question.” He shook his head. “No, I have no relation to him. I’m not an Aura Guardian, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Sabrina didn’t feel deflated at all since she hadn’t even bothered to get her hopes up. “I see. Then…I think that’s all we wanted from you.” She bowed. “Thank you.”

  “You came all this way just to ask me that?” Raphael raised an incredulous brow. “Surely you’d at least want to see the hot springs, no?” He glanced at Akari and Yura as if checking to see if this was okay with them. They both lit up, but remained by Sabrina’s side silently, so Raphael continued. “I must say I’m a little more than intrigued now. If you’re planning on turning right around, please come inside for some tea first, at least. I have a few questions for you, since you’re here. And there are winds coming which you don’t want to be hiking through.”

  Sabrina looked over and Yura and Akari, and both girls nodded their assent eagerly. Though she wasn’t thrilled about having to interact further with this stranger, since she was here, Sabrina figured it couldn’t hurt to learn more about him. Perhaps he’d have some useful information for them anyway. “Thank you. I think we’ll take you up on that.”

  Raphael nodded and led them around the body of the Alpha Glalie. “I left it there to perturb the wild pokémon. I didn’t expect three young girls of all things to be the ones to ignore its ferocious visage.”

  Just behind it sat a modest wooden cottage, absent of any windows. There were several hatches on the walls to let air in, and smoke drifted from a stone chimney on its side.

  “Did you build this yourself?” Akari asked as they got closer.

  “I did,” Raphael replied, and Sabrina could hear the tiniest hint of pride in his voice. “I do a lot of traveling but I can’t stand tents and bedrolls and such. So I build huts like this to accomodate me wherever I go.”

  Though it sounded pompous as all hell, somehow, Raphael sounded surprisingly humble and matter-of-fact as he said it. It sounded like he simply knew himself well and carried out his life accordingly. And since he’d spent a few months in this one spot, according to info they’d gotten from Volo and the Pearl Clan, it seemed to be a reasonable investment of time and effort. Though depending on how many times he’d done this before, maybe it hadn’t taken all that much time or effort.

  As they got closer, Sabrina noticed something she was sure Akari had surely seen from further away. The cottage’s construction was a bit shoddy, with planks jutting out here and there, unaligned, and beside the cottage, Sabrina saw numerous tree stumps that Raphael must’ve cut to build his little lodge.

  The door creaked as he pushed it open, and he ushered them inside. A fire flickered in a misshapen fire pit lined with gray stones, its smoke filtering out through a hatch behind it. Instead of a table and chairs, a dark boulder with a flat surface sat nestled in the corner, with a smaller boulder beside it.

  Sabrina could immediately tell that they were pokémon-made, and she glanced at Raphael’s belt. As expected, pokéballs lined his waist, but she couldn’t see how many. In another corner sat a long, lumpy mass of ratty woolen blankets: Raphael’s bed, presumably, though Sabrina could not tell if that was also made of stone. Somehow she doubted it, given his insistence on comfort.

  “Please, sit.” Raphael looked at Sabrina, then motioned toward the singular rock-chair next to his boulder-table.

  Before she could deny him, Yura and Akari sat down on the packed snow floor beside the fire pit.

  Seeing no other options, Sabrina did as she was bid and sat. It was more comfortable than it looked.

  After a few minutes, Raphael had his tea brewed and he went around and offered them each a cup, before sitting down beside Akari. “Good thing I was wise enough to bring extra cups in case I had guests,” he muttered.

  Sabrina took a sip of her tea. It was a bit woody for her tastes, but it was warm, and that was all she cared about now.

  “Now, then,” Raphael said. “Perhaps some introductions are in order first.”

  “I’m Yura!”

  “I’m Akari. Thank you for the tea, sir.”

  “I’m Sabrina. And…thanks.”

  “Thank you too!” Yura said quickly, slightly embarrassed.

  Raphael nodded, then pointed at Sabrina. “How did you get that, if you don’t mind me asking? It looks recent.”

  Sabrina raised a hand to the gash on her head. It was healed now, but it left a prominent white scar just below her hairline. “We were attacked…”

  “The wild pokémon here are nothing to sneeze at,” Raphael said matter-of-factly.

  “…by a human.”

  His gaze narrowed. “A human? Why?”

  Sabrina dropped her hand. “I can’t say.” I can’t talk about the Plates with a stranger I only just met.

  He kept his eyes on her, but eventually glanced away. “I see. We all have enemies, I suppose. I’m probably going to ask again, though.” He turned back to the group as a whole. “As for why I wanted to talk to you all to begin with, I wanted to ask about those pillars of light that appeared across Hisui a little over a month ago. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

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  Sabrina blushed and averted her gaze, and luckily, before Raphael could notice, Akari nodded furiously. “We do!”

  “Of course. You’d have had to have been underground to miss those twin pillars.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, because I’ve been leading a rather solitary lifestyle up here in the mountains, I haven’t had the chance to investigate those lights yet myself. Tell me, are you aware of its origins?”

  Yura and Akari’s eyes immediately locked on Sabrina, and she raised a shaky hand. “That was…one of those was me… The dark one.”

  Raphael raised a brow. “You…? Do you mean one of your pokémon?”

  “No. Me.” She raised her arm and lifted her sleeve to reveal the limiter around her wrist.

  Raphael leaned closer to watch its intricate movements for a few moments.

  “I’m a psychic.”

  Raphael studied her limiter a bit longer before leaning back. “Fascinating. I’ve never met a real one in person before… Do you all wear gauntlets like these?”

  “I don’t think so,” Sabrina said. “But I’ve never met another psychic either.” She lowered her arm. “Sorry, but that beacon was just supposed to be a signal to our friends. It’s nothing worth investigating.”

  “Hm.” Raphael stroked his chin. “So I suppose that other beacon was one of your friends, then. Well, that’s that mystery solved. A bit anticlimactic, I must say. I was prepared to extend my investigations here for another couple months if need be, but now, that’s no longer necessary. What a boring resolution that turned out to be.”

  Yura frowned. “Hey. You’re being rude, mister,” she scowled.

  Sabrina raised her hands. “Ah, no, that’s—“

  For the first time since they’d met him, Raphael cracked a smirk and crossed his arms. “My apologies. I’ve been isolated for so long, perhaps I forgot how to hold a proper conversation. Please forgive me, Sabrina.”

  Yura snorted and nodded in satisfaction.

  “What about you, Raphael?” Akari asked. “What are you doing up here in the Alabaster Icelands to begin with?”

  Raphael laced his fingers together. “I am here for knowledge. I travel the world to collect and collate information about the past. Here in Hisui’s north are two locations of interest to me. Lake Acuity and Snowpoint Temple. Just earlier, I was at Snowpoint Temple. I’m just about finished exploring its second floor.”

  “So you’re like an adventurer?” Yura asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

  “In a certain sense.”

  “But why stay out all the way out here if those are the locations you’re exploring?” Akari frowned. “Wouldn’t it be more convenient if you stayed with the Pearl Clan at the Pearl Settlement?”

  “Probably,” Raphael shrugged. “But I dislike relying on others. If it’s something I can take care of myself, I will.”

  Sabrina nodded in understanding. Honestly, she was of the same mind. But building a hut from scratch out in the wild was a bit extreme even for her. Sabrina suspected Raphael enjoyed the solitude, and a dash of guilt zipped through her upon realizing that, for they had just interrupted that solitude. But he had offered them hospitality himself. Perhaps he enjoyed his solitude and desired a break from that monotony. Both could be true.

  “Have you learned anything interesting at Snowpoint Temple?” Sabrina asked.

  “Not much. The inscriptions inside are aged. Right now, I’m only transcribing what I can make out. I’ll worry about translating everything later.”

  Sabrina wished Cynthia was speaking to this man in her stead. She suspected they’d have gotten along.

  “I suppose the only interesting thing about the Temple so far is that it used to house an extremely powerful golem pokémon called Regigigas. But the pokémon disappeared several centuries ago, around the time the old Kalos king made his voyage to Hisui, so the locals suspect he had something to do with it. This was before the Great War though, so who can say how true that is.”

  Sabrina swallowed. This must be where AZ captured his Regigigas. And I…

  It didn’t matter now. What remained of Regigigas was vaporized with the rest of Rota after AZ fired his weapon.

  “I see…,” Sabrina said flatly.

  Luckily, Raphael wasn’t looking at her, or he may have noticed she knew more than she was letting on. “The Great War and the Calamity that followed was a disaster for us scribes of history. So much was lost in the chaos and destruction, and what was true or false remains elusive. That is why I travel our ruined world. To piece together the truth for myself.”

  Yura stared at him, confused, but Akari seemed to be able to wrap her head around most of it.

  “Ruined world…” Akari repeated. “Is it really that bad? I’ve never seen anywhere else besides Hisui, but Hisui doesn’t seem all that ruined.”

  “The world certainly was ruined,” Raphael said gravely. “Even after five hundred years, the scars of the Calamity remain. Hisui is an outlier, in that the Great War, for as vast as it was, never reached these shores. And curiously, the Calamity doesn’t seem to have affected Hisui either.”

  “It was the Kalos king who caused the Calamity, right?” Akari said. “If Hisui didn’t participate in the war, maybe it makes sense that we weren’t targeted.”

  Raphael crossed his arms. “That claim is debatable, in my opinion. But the two events are clearly connected. Hisui’s pokémon are abnormally ferocious compared to the rest of the world’s pokémon. A lingering remnant of the Age of Carnage, perhaps. And because of that, Hisui still remains largely untamed. As far as I know, there are only three human settlements on this entire continent, and none of them are as developed as the towns and cities that once existed overseas, before the war. Of course, in comparison to the damage caused by the Calamity, now Hisui appears downright idyllic.”

  “Have you learned anything about the rift over Mount Coronet?” Sabrina blurted. “Why it appeared, or what’s inside?”

  Raphael fixed her with a grave look, and Sabrina could immediately tell he had information about it.

  Maybe this journey won’t be so fruitless after all…

  “If you’re asking about what’s inside,” he said coldly, “that suggests to me that you’re already aware that something is inside. Is that correct?”

  The Paragon of Darkness that Riley encountered… Why is it here? And what is Volo’s connection to it? Sabrina nodded slowly.

  “So you’re aware of the Paragons, then?”

  “Only that they exist. I don’t know anything else about them.”

  Raphael glanced at Yura and Akari, but both girls had stern expressions on their faces, ready to listen. Eventually, he shrugged and turned back to Sabrina.

  “The twin Paragons have names. Epithets, names, and words of warning carved into numerous nameless temples and ruins across the world. They are beings of destruction, whose battles leave extinction in their wake. Some believe they were the true cause of the Calamity. That they descended from heaven, or wherever they reside, and that a single clash between them decimated most of the civilized world in an instant.”

  “That’s impossible…” Yura murmured.

  “It should be. But these are creatures of fantasy, come to life.”

  “Are they pokémon?” Akari asked.

  “Most likely. But they are so qualitatively different from all other pokémon that it almost seems inappropriate to refer to them as such. Even the moniker of legendary cannot truly capture the essence of their supremacy.”

  “Their names,” Sabrina said. “What are their names?”

  Raphael closed his eyes. “There is supposed to be one of light and one of dark, but do not let that fool you into believing one is good and one is evil. They are both heralds of carnage.” He opened them. “Their names and epithets are in an ancient language, but they have been translated as such: the Paragon of Light has been called the Nucleus of Annihilation. And the Paragon of Darkness has been called the Twisting Oblivion.”

  Sabrina shuddered. Volo mentioned the Twisting Oblivion… It sounded like he was communicating with it! Sabrina tried to remember more of what she’d heard, but her memories of that entire fight were still hazy. “The Twisting Oblivion…” she murmured.

  “Yes, the Twisting Oblivion. Though that is just its epithet.” He fixed his dark eyes on Sabrina, and she suppressed a shiver. “Its true name is Giratina.”

  Giratina…

  Wait.

  Was that right?

  Sabrina had heard Ash and Riley discussing the potential identity of the Paragon of Darkness, and they’d brought up that name. Wasn’t that just the name of a local legendary in Sinnoh? That couldn’t be the actual identity of the Paragon of Darkness, right?

  “Giratina…” Akari’s brows were scrunched up as if she was trying to remember something.

  “What’s the other one called?” Yura blurted out, oblivious to her friends’ ruminating. “The light one!”

  “The one referred to as the Nucleus of Annihilation is called Necrozma.” Raphael sighed. “Those are the names of the Paragons. Giratina and Necrozma.”

  Giratina and Necrozma…

  Sabrina felt her body stiffen at the sound of them. These two alone were responsible for so much death. Phantoms that appeared only to inflict disaster. And right now, one of them hung over Hisui like a specter, sowing seeds of violence in the form of the vicious Alpha Pokémon. And Volo—a Platebearer—seemed to serve Giratina personally.

  “Can I ask how you know of the Paragons?” Raphael said, his sharp eyes trained on Sabrina. “I’ve never met anyone else who is aware of their existence.”

  Sabrina shifted on her seat. “I…know a Platebearer. He told me about them.”

  Raphael raised a brow. “An actual Platebearer? And he surrendered this information willingly?”

  Sabrina nodded slowly, not sure what he was getting at.

  “The Platebearers I’ve met, and I’ve only met a few, were all exceedingly prideful individuals. They did not even identify themselves as Platebearers, wanting to keep their abilities a secret, but I have my ways. They would never dream of revealing themselves to another, much less saying anything about the Plates themselves, or their ultimate rivals, the Paragons.”

  “You’re a trainer, right, mister?” Yura asked. “Is that how you’re able to tell?”

  Raphael cracked a thin smile at Yura’s frankness. “Yes, that is how. I’ve been training alongside pokémon from a very young age. I don’t fear them as most others do.”

  “I don’t either!” Yura scowled. “I have a pokémon, you know?”

  “Really?” Raphael looked genuinely surprised.

  The cabin shook as something landed in the snow outside. All heads whipped toward the door and Raphael stood immediately. “What now? More guests?”

  As Yura stood, Sabrina got in front of her protectively.

  Rapahel pushed the door open and stepped outside.

  Though she was trying not to use her powers as much, Sabrina instinctively activated them and scanned the area outside. Her breath caught in her throat and she bolted after Raphael.

  “Sabrina?” Akari said, following after her.

  Sabrina tore out of the door and nearly shoved Raphael out of the way as she scrambled past him through the snow.

  A massive cloudlike pokémon stood in the snow with its cotton wings outstretched. It was larger than Zinnia’s, but Sabrina immediately recognized it as an Altaria. And unlike hers, this one actually sported an angry expression on its otherwise cute face, and it growled menacingly. Though, that wasn’t so surprising, given who was across from it.

  Towering over Altaria, a crimson sentinel amidst the whites and blues of the Icelands, stood Decidueye. A low hum escaped his beak and his fists tightened.

  “Decidueye!” Sabrina cried, running toward him.

  The monstrous bird glanced down at his trainer and sneered. But he made no moves to escape and let her embrace his leg.

  “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

  Decidueye released what could only be described as a sarcastic squawk and shook himself loose from her grip. Trainer and pokémon met eyes, and Sabrina smiled.

  “Dang, he beat me! Flying’s not fair, man!”

  Sabrina’s heart plunged into her stomach, and just like that, Decidueye was forgotten.

  From the exact same path she’d ascended just earlier climbed Ash, snow matted in his hair. As he pulled himself over the ridge with gloved hands, he paused to catch his breath upon seeing Decidueye, but his eyes followed Decidueye’s line of sight down to Sabrina.

  “Sabrina…”

  Before Sabrina could finish taking one step forward, she found herself crushed in a bear hug that was so tight it was painful. So tight, and so warm. Her limiter blitzed around her wrist, and she felt her face catch fire.

  “Your head…”

  His fingers brushed the scar on her forehead and he stared at her, worry pooled in his eyes.

  “I-I’m fine,” she said, pulling back. “But what about you. You…”

  Her eyes traveled over his body but she couldn’t see anything beneath his winter clothes. But here he was, alive in front of her, not limping or bleeding or anything.

  Ash grinned and slammed a fist on his chest. “Don’t worry about me! It’ll take a lot more than that to take me down!”

  Sabrina’s vision went blurry as cold tears welled in her eyes and she buried her face in his chest before he could see them. “Idiot… Don’t say that…” she sobbed.

  He brushed her head gently.

  “Sabrina!” came Riley’s voice from behind Ash.

  Sabrina rocketed backward from Ash, her hair falling in front of her face. It’d taken an interruption like that to shock her into realizing what exactly she’d been doing, but a second later, her head jerked up as she processed the other new arrival.

  “Riley!”

  Behind them, Raphael glanced at Altaria and shrugged. “Stand down, I guess.”

  Next — Chapter 77 : Origin Children