Species: Gastly
Location: Crimson Mirelands
What I know: Ghost/poison type. With training, it evolves into Haunter, and then Gengar upon being traded. Their gaseous bodies can suffocate a grown human if they become engulfed, or, conversely, knock a person out with their soporific poison, but they’re easily blown about or dispersed entirely by even the faintest breeze. As they have hardly any physicality to speak of, it’s incredibly difficult to keep this Pokemon out of any space that isn’t airtight. Their ability is always Levitate.
Notes: To my knowledge, the species isn’t capable of learning Teleport, but I watched several flit around in a very similar fashion.
Species: Budew
Location: Crimson Mirelands
What I know: Grass/poison type. It will only evolve into Roselia if it trusts its partner, and then into Roserade after being exposed to a shiny stone. They’re partial to environments where they’re ensured strong sunlight and fresh, clear water, which is said to increase their poison’s potency. Their most common abilities are Natural Cure and Poison Point. I seem to be allergic to their pollen.
Notes: From what I’ve observed, they only appear when there aren’t Gastly about. While you can, and I have, walked directly up to them without issue, it’s an experience I’m not going to repeat, if only to save my immune system some trouble.
Species: Tangrowth (Alpha)
Location: Crimson Mirelands
What I know: Grass type. They evolve from Tangela upon learning Ancient Power. Both predator and prey, this Pokemon is able to blend into natural environments by holding perfectly still, allowing it to evade notice. The “arms” they use are actually limbs woven from their vines, and, due to this, they’re utterly unbothered if they lose one; it will grow right back within a day. Their most common abilities are Chlorophyll and Leaf Guard. You can easily tell whether a Tangrowth is male or female by looking at their ‘fingers’ and the amount of red on them.
Notes: An interesting wrinkle in regards to alpha Pokemon: the alpha Tangrowth attempted to attack me on sight, as expected, but I believe Tangela talked it down. I’m unsure whether this particular alpha Pokemon had a receptive temperament or if it had to do with their shared species. This warrants further investigation.
Species: Croagunk
Location: Crimson Mirelands
What I know: Poison/fighting type. They evolve into Toxicroak when trained properly. Like Pikachu, they derive their poison from their cheek sacs, which it can inflate to release a so-called “blubbering” cry; I’ve yet to hear this, and am curious how it compares to Eelektross’s. It’s said that this Pokemon fights especially dirty in the wild, but it’s only as a survival mechanism, and their temperament shifts once they find a human they trust. Their most common abilities are Anticipation and Dry Skin.
Notes: While I’m unable to account for partnered Croagunk, I can confirm Hisui’s wild specimens have a penchant for taking every advantage they can. They like to hide in the mud here and ambush those who cross through.
---
Warden Calaba is losing patience with me. In her defense, this IS the third time I’ve come away from a day’s research poisoned.
She showed me how to refine a pecha berry’s juice to create a fact-acting antidote, and then followed that with the most repulsive medicinal powder I’ve ever been forced to take. I suppose I deserved it, though. I should have been watching the mud pits more carefully as I passed.
On the bright side, I can confirm that Eelektross would almost certainly be the more competent blubberer if pitted against a Croagunk.
---
Among the dozens of pictures added to Pokemon, and the works in progress filed under Pokedex, a handful are also added to Miscellaneous.
The first is a room lined with meticulously even tiles, floor to wall. Across its length, there’s a large tablet with some sort of inscription on it, but the details are too far away to make out.
It’s followed by a closer look at the carved letters; they’re not a proper alphabet, but can still be read.
ALL LIVES TOUCH OTHER LIVES TO CREATE SOMETHING ANEW AND ALIVE
Hours after it was taken, a comment is added to it: I’m baffled. The implications in the ‘Galarian or Unown’ debate aside, how can this be here? Warden Calaba recited its inscription when I asked after it, in spite of the alphabet being a foreign one. If I wrote a message using Unown instead of Unovan, would I be understood? Is it simply that, through my eyes, Unown look like the alphabet I recognize and Calaba sees Hisuian characters? What does it MEAN?
(Chronologically, it’s followed by short series of pictures featuring a Tangela balancing a stack of oran berries on its head. The dissonance is startling.)
Following those into Miscellaneous are several shots of the same paper, the camera kept meticulously still to keep the result from blurring. The hypothetical Unovan viewer would be unable to read it, as it’s entirely in Hisuian. No comments have been added to elucidate their meaning. There is, however, a pecha pit edging just barely into the frame.
Last is a curious photograph-- not for its content, but the fact that, even in the time after it’s been taken, the viewer can intuit how indecisive the photographer was as he took it. The subject matter is nothing special: a pair of torches marking the beginning of a small village, its ring of tents identical to the ones seen previously in all but color and the insignia marking their tops. At this settlement's center is a stone plinth of unknown origin or significance.
The cameraman’s timidity isn’t for nothing. Across the camp, a woman stares back in distaste.
What, if anything, became of this interaction is left up to the imagination.
---
The camera is angled haphazardly down a slope, at a sleeping Hippopotas, a voice already speaking. In conjunction with one another, these facts make it quite clear that it’s not the ability to record that’s being put to work, but the filter that helps to see through the dark.
“—es seem to function the way I had thought. Warden Calaba! I can help!” The latter portion is spoken clumsily, and not in the language the camera operator has favored up to this point.
An older woman only half in frame turns away from a large ursine Pokemon to regard him. Her expression is somewhat dubious, but she responds favorably, and whatever she says is met with prompt acceptance as the cameraman turns and dashes off into the night.
Eventually, he reaches the ring of dark tents and slows, cowed by the looks that turn upon him. One man in particular breaks away to meet him, and while he seems far from happy, he’s not turning Ingo away. His words are unrecognizable without any knowledge of Hisuian or Sinnoan, but the camera jostles as its owner nods.
“I can help.” He repeats, “Can I?”
The man eyes him up and down and gives a firm nod, but holds a hand up to speak to the rest of his people. Several disperse as he doles out orders-- each calling a name into the night as they leave-- and when that matter has settled, he turns back to the camera, gesturing for Ingo to come with him. He says something in the same tones of the instructions he’d barked.
“I understand.” Ingo says, back to normal, and in a smaller voice adds, “...in practice, if not verbatim.”
They follow a trail studded with torches, preceded by two other people in the distance, carrying their own lights. The man occasionally calls “Kandrake” like his fellows, but Ingo remains focused on the grove they’re passing, scouring it with the greater vision the camera’s filter provides.
No one is lost amongst the trees or, when the lens is turned to the path’s opposite side, floundering in the river, and so they skirt around a Graveler’s perimeter to venture into the bog below.
The problem here is that a massive, red-eyed Gastly haunts the pits, and those people calling into the darkness can’t continue without drawing its attention. Briefly, the scene pans back behind them, to where a Leafeon pads after its trainer. A considering hiss sounds behind the camera, but Ingo refocuses and speaks to other man in hushed tones.
It’s barely a surprise when Gligar emerges from its pokeball, and while the stranger looks on with some small amount of distaste, the message has gotten across.
The Gastly screeches in outrage as it catches sight of the humans in its territory, and then unerringly hones in on its specific target. It’s unnerving to see it so set on the camera, even knowing that one isn’t in any danger, a viewer well after the fact.
The dark and mud in tandem prove no small obstacle, and the Gastly’s attacks come closer than is comfortable. With Ingo’s attention half on the battle and half on dodging the disproportionate aggression-- broken further into actively ducking and weaving versus watching for the traps the mud pits pose-- Gligar receives only a few orders. It obeys most, though ignores the last Aerial Ace in favor of substituting an alpha’s bellow, then a fast-and-precise Mud Bomb-- a decision which merits a note of confusion in the moment, but is quickly passed off in favor of more pressing matters.
While the Gastly’s vision is obscured, Leafeon and Gligar are able to subdue it, and with the behemoth of a ghost downed for the time, the human voices tentatively begin to ring out again, one by one.
Leafeon’s trainer calls it back and sympathetically tries to brush some of the mud from its pelt, but sighs and gives up on the endeavor for the moment. Gligar swoops in and out of frame as the camera-- held distractedly in one hand-- moves away; the recording only barely catches the pecha berry that Ingo offers the pathetic-looking grass type.
A word of thanks is offered to Gligar, who snubs the offer of his own pecha berry and returns to his pokeball, leaving the men to resume their task.
The camera moves across multiple mud pits as they press on, empty save for the Pokemon who had been sleeping in the muck. Among the other members of the search party, specks of light move in the distance like will-o-wisps-- true, fire type will-o-wisps.
Things continue in this manner for several minutes, “Kandrake” sounding from both nearby and afar. Eventually, the other man pauses, turns to Ingo and nudges where the frame ends.
Whatever it is that he says warrants, “I’m… not sure you want me to do that.”
His brows knit, and while he doesn’t seem to understand the words, the hesitation must come through, because he waves it off and repeats himself.
There’s a soft sigh and, “I suppose, if you insist.” before deep inhalation and a booming, “KANDRAKE?”
The other man backpedals, eyes widening briefly in surprise, but gives a short, sheepish laugh and taps at one ear as if to make sure that it still works. He mumbles something incomprehensible and shakes his head briefly, before his demeanor turns serious again to echo the call.
The search continues for nearly an hour before the recording-- never once acknowledged in all that time-- ends.
---
I didn’t expect to see a Lilligant here, but it seems one acts as a Noble Pokemon of the Diamond Clan.
There are so many fundamental differences between Dredear and the Lilligant we know, but you couldn’t mistake her for anything else. I’ve never heard of Sinnoan Petilil or Lilligant in our era.
Or Basculin or Basculegion for that matter.
Now that I think about it, all of the Noble Pokemon I’ve met have been species I’d never heard of, or forms I’d never seen before.
Another mystery, it seems, and no better than the alpha Pokemon’s inexplicable aggression. When I’ve done enough research here, I think I’ll travel to the Alabaster Icelands again. I need to follow up on this.
---
For the first time, the device’s Maps feature is opened. It seems to be an accident, because it’s closed and then, as a double-take, opened back up. It’s immediately littered with a dozen notes across three separate territories.
The built-in task list is visited shortly thereafter.
In an Unfamiliar Land: You were found in the Alabaster Icelands and brought to the Pearl Clan, an unfamiliar people in an unfamiliar place. How will you find your footing in this strange land? COMPLETE
The Galaxy Team’s Trial: You’ve been set a trial you must clear to associate with the Galaxy Team. Catch a Bidoof, a Starly, and a Shinx in the Obsidian Fieldlands, and turn them over. COMPLETE
Getting to Work on Research Tasks: In order to complete the Pokedex, you’ll need to study Pokemon in various ways. Speak to the professor to learn more about these parameters. COMPLETE
Hisui’s Kings and Queens: As a visitor, it’s only proper to introduce yourself to Hisui’s protectors. Meet the each of the Noble Pokemon revered by the Diamond and Pearl Clans.
A New Mission: Continue studying the native fauna to build an understanding of the Pokemon and people of Hisui.
Antagonistic Alphas: Alpha Pokemon tend not to welcome human contact, but yours is appreciated even less than others’. What do you suppose causes this?
The Unown: You’ve noted that people who speak entirely separate languages can still interpret the Unown without issue. Study the species to see if an explanation can’t be found.
Diamond in a Rough Spot: A young woman called Kandrake has gone missing from the Diamond Clan’s settlement. Neither Lord Ursaluna nor the search party sent out that night found answers. She’s still out there somewhere.