“Well, let’s look on tha bright side, I s’pose. Sure, we’re on the opposite side of Sinnoh now. But at leas’ we’re at the right point ‘n time!” Mimikyu said with a bit of cheer as they walked through the dense trees of a forest.

  “Bzzrt. That cannot be confirmed. The clocks of the electronics won’t update until they enter the range of more established territory.”

  N frowned. “What do you mean by the right point in time?”

  “Well, it’s like the King said, isn’t it?” Dusclops chimed in. “The Distortion World is outside of time and space. If we got sent to the wrong place, there isn’t much to stop us from getting sent to the wrong time as well. And given that the King called Sinnoh Hisui…”

  “Exactly!” Rotom buzzed. “Referring to it as Hisui is a major red flag!”

  Lucas frowned, pulling out a notebook and flipping to a fresh page. “ヒスイは何ですか?”

  “Bzzrt. Hisui is an archaic name for Sinnoh. Records are sparse regarding exactly when the current name was adopted, but the best estimates put it at around 200 years ago. However, there’s no way of knowing how long this land was referred to as Hisui. The King could have been referring to a period 300 years ago, or 1000 years ago for all we know!”

  Lucas paled a bit at that, and N felt it was a reasonable reaction. Going from the Distortion World to stuck in the past would be… well, unfortunate wouldn’t begin to describe it.

  “Mimikyu,” he hesitantly began, “is there a reason you think we’re at the right point in time?”

  A shadowy tendril reached out from beneath the pink disguise, pointing out into the forest. “Well, I ain’ an expert or anythin’, but I’m pretty sure that form of Voltorb isn’ s’posed ta be in Sinnoh, ‘n’ the one that is native ain’ aroun’ any more.”

  Looking out in that direction, N spotted a far off Pokemon, perfectly round and split in half with red and white. It looked a lot like a pokeball, not dissimilar to the Foongus he was familiar with.

  “There are Voltorb in Sinnoh?” Dusclops asked, sounding a little surprised.

  “Rotom is not aware of any, but strange Pokemon being present does lend credence to the theory that the time is correct… an increase of inter-region travel has seen the wilds of Sinnoh housing foreign Pokemon in recent years.”

  “Well that’s… good, I guess?” N spoke half-heartedly. He wasn’t sure how glad he could be to confirm that they didn’t have a problem he hadn’t even considered a few minutes prior. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t take too long to find our way to a proper route or something, I didn’t really think to restock on supplies before leaving Veilstone with everything that was going on.”

  “So we’re at a dead end, then?” A Shadow spoke.

  “It would seem that way,” another agreed.

  “It doesn’t make much sense, though…” The third frowned under his mask.

  It had been a struggle, but they’d managed to gather that N and his friends had rushed south in quite a hurry. Leaving them behind without any warning was annoying, but they were there to serve him. They weren’t equals who N might deem necessary to notify of such things. Doubly so when they, from his perspective at least, had tracked him down in the middle of nowhere initially despite having never met him before. That might have given him an overestimation of their abilities.

  Less annoying, and more worrying, was how Banette had managed to pick up on some distortion on the route, giving them hope that it would be a simple sneak away, only to discover that some cave tucked away in the woods was leaking it.

  There was no way that N and his group had managed to get much further than that even if they tried, not with Lucas’ short little legs. Which meant that either they’d missed something, or their charge had somehow up and disappeared. Neither was a good enough excuse to report back to Ghetsis.

  “What is the most surefire way to track them down? Trying for speed over accuracy will only doom us.”

  One turned to the trio’s Ghost. “Banette, would you be able to tell the difference between Mimikyu and the other ghosts of Sinnoh?”

  The little puppet thought for a moment before eventually giving a not-so-confident nod.

  The Shadow sighed. “Not ideal, but we’ll have to take it. We’ll need to start canvassing Sinnoh.”

  Another turned to him. “The whole region? That could take ages!”

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  “Well…”

  “It’s not like we literally need to cover the whole region. They’d have no reason to be in the middle of random wilderness. Banette’s range isn’t insignificant, we’ll only need him to search a few times per route and once or twice per city.”

  “That could still take days…”

  “Assuming they’re in the last place we look, perhaps. But again, do you have a better idea?”

  The third clapped to get their attention. “As much as I dislike it, he’s right. Better we start now than delay any longer. Sorry to ask so much of you Banette.”

  The Ghost gave them a smile, and the Shadows sunk into the shadows once more.

  It wasn’t until dawn the next morning that they finally stumbled upon civilization, having managed to wander their way into a coastal city. The night in the woods hadn’t been too bad, but upon realizing just how close they’d been N regretted not pushing a little further the night before. Street lights were starting to turn off, no longer needed with the rising sun. Brick roads connected fairly standard buildings you could find anywhere in the region. A few Flying types were taking off from rooftops into the air, and in the distance crashing waves could be heard.

  A few people in sailors’ uniforms gave them strange looks as they walked out of the woods before ignoring them and going back to their business.

  “Anyone recognize this place?” N asked the group.

  “Well a coastal city west of Coronet… it’s gotta be Canalave, ain’ it?” Mimikyu suggested. “We really are on the opposite end of the region…”

  “Correct!” Rotom chimed. “This is indeed Canalave. It’s irritating that they don’t extend the electrical system further. It’s like they cut it off right at the city’s edge! Rotom could have gotten everyone here last night if not for that…”

  Lucas’ interest was piqued by something mentioned there, as he pulled the map out of his bag, scanning over it.

  “Well, it’s cuz Canalave is the western most part of the region, ain’ it? Not much poin’ in settin’ up infrastructure if there ain’ gonna be anyone ta use it, an’ there’s no reason ta head west of Canalave… provided ya don’ get dumped there like we did…”

  “Canalave, huh? I’ve heard of it, but never visited. How far is this from Sendoff Spring?” Dusclops asked.

  N flinched, knowing where this city was on the map. If it wasn’t a Flying or seabound Water type, wild Pokemon rarely ventured terribly far from where they were born. Dusclops may know that they’re on the other side of the mountain range, but his sense of scale probably doesn’t help much for a distance like this. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get home. I just can’t tell you how long that will take…”

  Dusclops laughed. “Oh, don’t worry too much about me! I’m not worried about rushing home or anything, just thinking that they might be missing me if I’m gone for too long.”

  For some reason, Mimikyu flinched back, nearly falling off N’s shoulder at that remark.

  N didn’t think too much on it, though, because Lucas started walking off with a sense of purpose.

  “Lucas, I swear if the first thing you do is start barging into strangers' homes again…”

  The boy picked up his pace in a way that N wasn’t sure to take as reassuring or worrying, leaving him no choice but to follow behind with the others.

  Luckily the trainer’s rampant urge to commit breaking and entering hadn’t been what set him off, though N wasn’t very pleased that it seemed to be his other vice.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  They stood before a towering building. Rough stone jutted up a few meters into the air before giving way to large metal panels welded together haphazardly. A large metal disk that reminded him of UFOs from Pokestar studio movies was resting on top of the monstrosity, held in place by supports that looked like they’d be better served in one of Nimbasa’s roller coasters.

  The large Pokeball above the doorway marked it as the city’s gym.

  “Of course…” N sighed.

  “I dunno what ya expect, he is a trainer after all.”

  “So this is a Gym?” Dusclops sounded interested.

  “The Canalave City Gym does not open for another three hours!” Rotom announced.

  That took the wind out of Lucas’ sails, leaving him sagging.

  N started walking away. “I have a feeling we’re going to be spending the night here. Let’s see about arranging a room at the Pokemon Center and have a look around.”

  Nurse Joy had seemed a little put off by their request to have a wild Pokemon like Dusclops room with them. N wasn’t sure whether that was because there were no wild Dusclops in the area, because he was wild in the first place, or because of his human size requiring a bed given that N wasn’t going to make the poor Pokemon sleep in the treatment area. She went along with it in the end, though, and that was the part that mattered.

  Now, though, they were exploring the city like they would any other.

  “So what is there to do in Canalave?” N asked, hoping the Sinnoh natives would know a thing or two.

  He wasn’t very surprised when it was Mimikyu who answered, however.

  “They’ve got a fancy library, if yer inta that sorta thing. Uh… that thing with Cress– no, we should probably avoid that, if it’s even happenin’... ‘n’ if we already ran into ‘im then he won’ be ‘ere right? ‘Cuz then…”

  “Does he do that a lot?” Dusclops chuckled, interrupting Mimikyu’s mumbling and making him snap to attention.

  “Occasionally,” N admitted.

  “Ah, sorry ‘bout that. Other than the library, only thing of real note we migh’ ‘ave int’rest in isn’ even really part of Canalave. There should be a sailor ‘round ‘ere somewhere willin’ ta take us ta Iron Island, which Lucas’ll definitely wanna check out. Though it migh’ int’rest you as well, dependin’ on… well, yeah, I think you’d like it.”

  N raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see how an entirely different island is somehow relevant to this city. Where is this island, anyway? I don’t recall seeing any areas of importance off the coast on this half of the map.”

  Lucas helpfully pulled his map up again, pointing to a sizable island northwest of Eterna Forest.

  “Bzzrt! It’s relevant to Canalave because this is the only port with access to the island! Iron Island was once the site of a mine, the vast stretches of iron ore being the source of its name, but once they ran out it was converted into a habitat for wild Pokemon!”

  That got his attention. “A habitat for wild Pokemon?”

  “Correct! The town on the island was abandoned not long after the mine closed down, and the League decided to turn it into a reserve with restricted access to outsiders. That didn’t pan out, however, for reasons that Rotom is not aware of, and now it’s marked as a place for training, with permanent residence on the island disallowed.”

  Not quite as promising as he had dared to hope, but that was better than nothing, he supposed. “It wouldn’t hurt to investigate it at some point.”

  “Before all that, though, I’m lookin’ ta check out the library.”

  Rotom floated up in front of Mimikyu. “Really? Aren’t you and N barely literate?”

  “Rude! It ain’ our fault yer dumb language ‘as such a complex writin’ system. Besides, we’ve gotten by well ‘nough, ‘aven’t we?”

  N nodded. “Even beyond that, I'm not sure that you can consider us barely literate when we can read and write Unovan just fine.”

  “That’s just semantics!” Rotom let out an electronic giggle.

  N rolled his eyes. “If you want to investigate the library, I have no problem with it, Mimikyu.”

  Lucas frowned, clearly ready to leave the group and check out something else, but N stopped him. “And where do you think you’re going?”

  Lucas gave him a disbelieving look.

  “After what happened the last time we separated, and especially since we’ve found ourselves on the other side of the region, I’m going to insist that we stay together, at least for now.”

  Lucas pouted, but didn’t argue the point.

  The group fell into silence as they walked towards the building.

  “So…” Dusclops started, “what’s a library?”

  It was N’s first time being in a library. There was one in Nacrene City, but that also doubled as a Gym, so N hadn’t exactly been eager to explore it.

  The sheer quantity of books on display was a bit intimidating. Keeping track of them all must be a real challenge… but he hoped they were organized enough that Mimikyu could find what he was after.

  Assuming he was after something in particular.

  “Where are we going, Mimikyu?” he asked the Pokemon on his shoulder.

  “I think it was… the top floor….”

  He didn’t sound very sure of himself, but with nothing else to act on, N made his way up the stairs and then another set, stopping on the third and final floor of the library.

  At that point Mimikyu stopped using him as a free taxi service, hopping off of his shoulder so the little fae could investigate on his own.

  It brought a smile to N’s face, seeing Mimikyu moving on his own once more. He felt that the two of them had… quite a few things, honestly, that they needed to talk about regarding the events of the last two days, but he would save that for when they had a bit of privacy.

  But Mimikyu’s slow search for whatever books he might be after left the rest of them with little to do, so they began searching out some reading material of their own. Lucas pulled out a book titled “The Original Story”, Rotom convinced Dusclops to grab “Veilstone’s Myth” and was having the larger ghost turn the pages at a desk as he read it aloud, to the annoyance and surprise of those around them, and N himself picked up “Sinnoh Folk Stories”.

  The first story, about eating Pokemon, disgusted him. He almost put the book back halfway through reading it.

  The second story was about a Pokemon hiding among humans. It reminded him of an old friend. He wondered what that friend was up to now…

  The third story really got his attention, though.

  Maybe his League really was as bad as Rotom had said, but if he was translating this correctly…

  There once were Pokemon that married people.

  There once were people who married Pokemon.

  This was a normal thing because long ago people and Pokemon were the same.

  That was…

  He wasn’t sure what to make of that.

  He wanted cruelty against Pokemon to stop, but marrying them? The bit about them being the same was confusing as well. Did it mean that humans were a species of Pokemon? That didn’t really make sense, did it? Humans changed gradually over time as they grew up instead of evolving. Plus they didn’t hatch out of an egg, they weren’t able to use moves… All Pokemon seemed able to understand each other, but N was the exception for humanity in being able to do the same. Team Rocket’s Meowth was another sort of exception, he supposed…

  “Excuse me, may I have a moment of your time?”

  He looked up from the confusing book to find a man standing in front of the stairs, a Lucario at his side. His outfit was a bit strange, with dark pants and a fancy blue coat plus a matching hat. It was as if he was matching his outfit to his Pokemon, in a way.

  “Bzzrt. Who are you talking to?”

  The man looked around the room, his eyes lingering on all of them for a moment. He seemed particularly interested in Lucas and Mimikyu, though…

  That spelled trouble.

  “All of you? If that’s not too much trouble.”

  Mimikyu finally looked up from his book. “What could ya possibly–”

  The little ghost froze upon seeing the man.

  That definitely spelled trouble. And so soon after the last bout of it…

  The Lucario tilted his head. “Is there a problem?” Its voice was deep and gravelly.

  “Ah, no, no problem, jus’... wasn’ expectin’ a visit is all.”

  N didn’t think the Lucario was buying that either, but neither of them said anything about it.

  Quietly accepting his fate, N joined Dusclops at the table he and Rotom were using, with Lucas taking a seat on the other side and Mimikyu hopping up on top of it.

  The man took the remaining chair, giving them all a considering look once more.

  “I suppose introductions are a good place to start. I am Riley, an Aura Guardian in-training, and this is my partner Lucario.”

  The Pokemon bowed. It is a pleasure to meet you all.

  Even having experienced telepathy before, it shocked N a bit, and Lucas was clearly a bit frightened. Not that he could be blamed, given that his last experience with telepathy had been the day before with Giratina of all Pokemon.

  “I’m N,” he introduced himself before pointing to the others and rattling off their names.

  Riley nodded. “I’m terribly sorry to bother all of you so early in the day, but you see, Lucario, and to a much lesser extent myself, are able to use a… sixth sense of sorts, which we refer to as aura. When we were passing by the library, we detected some… let’s say anomalies, and decided to investigate.”

  N ignored Mimikyu’s mumblings of “fuckin’ bullshit powers not makin’ any damn sense”, though Lucario clearly took note, and asked “Am I correct in assuming that by anomalies, you’re referring to us? What exactly is strange about us in your eyes?”

  Riley shifted uncomfortably. “Well, it’s more present in some of you than others, and it’s hard to phrase it in a way that would make sense to someone who doesn’t use aura themselves…”

  Lucario had no such misgivings. Looking straight at Mimikyu, he bluntly stated “Your soul frightens me to look at. What exactly are you?”

  As far as I can find there are no hard dates for when anything under the name Hissui takes place relative to the current day, so that “200 years ago” bit is loosely based on irl stuff. Sinnoh is more than likely based off of Hokkaido, which was known as Ezo until 1869 on official paperwork. Obviously it’s not been 200 years since then, but I prefer the vagueness of “something like 200 years ago” where they can’t even narrow it down to the 10s place and can barely be considered accurate at all vs “well it was 139 years ago”. I don’t see the Pokemon world as particularly organized outside of some fringe cases.

  I'm sure a good number of you are aware, but if you weren’t, yes, that is the literal translation of “Sinnoh Folk Story 3” in the Canalave library. I went and checked the Japanese text myself, and it says that in really simple japanese so there’s no room for error. Legends Arceus probably should have played out pretty differently…

  ヒスイは何ですか? = What is Hisui?

  As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)