The trainers you passed most recently are:
Pokemon Trainer Volo
Custom Survey Question: What faction are they from?
Answer: The Ginkgo Guild (Icho Shokai)
Custom Survey Question: What is their role?
Answer: Ostensibly, he’s a merchant. Maybe it’s just the language barrier, but he’s never tried to sell me on anything.
Custom Survey Question: What Pokemon do they favor?
Answer: To date, I’ve only seen him use a Togepi. I’m relieved to say it seemed perfectly healthy when I saw it recently.
Captain Zisu
Custom Survey Question: What faction are they from?
Answer: Galaxy Team (Ginga-dan)
Custom Survey Question: What is their role?
Answer: Captain of Galaxy Team’s Security Corps (Keibitai)
Custom Survey Question: What Pokemon do they favor?
Answer: I know she trains an Ambipom and Lopunny, and suspect she has a larger team.
Professor Laventon
Custom Survey Question: What faction are they from?
Answer: Galaxy Team (Ginga-dan)
Custom Survey Question: What is their role?
Answer: Researcher for the Survey Corps (Chosa-tai)
Custom Survey Question: What Pokemon do they favor?
Answer: He seems timid around Pokemon, so the literal answer may be that he favors their absence. He’s currently caring for a Cyndaquil and Rowlet, but doesn’t battle with them.
---
Another photograph is added to Pokedex, and while this one follows the established pattern of focusing on a sheet of paper-- or, rather, a number of sheets of paper-- the actual content is radically different from the norm.
At the top of one sheet, the shared Galarian-Unovan alphabet is scrawled in both upper and lowercase letters, and below it is a facsimile of the corresponding Unown. The letters are written in a hand unlike what’s been seen in this folder prior.
Two halves of a separate sheet have been set nearby, and though it might take a bit of squinting, a Unovan or Galarian observer would recognize that both halves say the same thing; the difference is that one is written in proper Galarian and the other is made up of Unown. The piece with actual writing on it has a single tally in its corner, and the Unown a good ten marks grouped together.
At the image’s edge-- extending out of frame-- another sheet of paper is actively being written on, one hand laying absently to the side as a pen angles against it. A beige ring sullies its far corner, and the culprit rests nearby: a teacup with a gold rim and distinctive swirling aqua pattern along its body.
There’s no hope for interpreting what’s being written on the paper itself. Even to a native speaker, the cursive is unintelligible.
---
I’ve identified several new discrepancies between Hisuian and modern Pokemon. While they can only battle with four active moves, a Pokemon here never truly forgets an attack.
If, for instance, you replaced Aqua Jet with Water Pulse, Oshawott would still be able to use Aqua Jet without visiting a specialist to relearn it. All he would need is a quiet moment to remember the technique.
Have modern day Pokemon forgotten this ability, or is it something that’s simply died out with the regulations surrounding the training and battling of Pokemon?
As to the other, I’d like to verify it for myself before making any claims, but if true, the implications are… fascinating.
---
The recording switches on to two rows of rustic wooden houses lining either side of a wide dirt road. Down the path is a manned gate with two watchtowers on its either side and a bell hanging from the leftmost tower. Lanterns have been lit at regular intervals, and most of the houses have a light shining from within.
“Captain Zisu’s gotten me involved in a dispute she has with Captain Cyllene,” Says the cameraman, speaking under his breath as he moves off to the right, toward a hill topped with furrows of plowed ground. “Granted, my Hisuian is still somewhat lacking, but by my understanding, she’s complaining of Cyllene’s Abra teleporting around the village and spooking the inhabitants. As Captain Cyllene denies this, she’s asked me to find proof. I’m unsure if I can actually use this footage as evidence, given the… incompatibility with this era, but better to have it and not need it than the inverse.”
The camera turns lazily this way and that, peeking through scaffolding and into the canopies of trees. Eventually, he makes a wide loop to cover the other side of the prepared farmland, pausing to take a look at the mushrooms growing on a carefully-arranged set of logs. Given the bemused “Huh” it incites, that seems to have less to do with Abra and more a personal curiosity.
As he moves on to idle halfway across a bridge, looking out over the river that cuts through the village, something flickers on the left half of the embankment, and he takes off running. After a dizzying commute, one of the waterwheels seen prior begins to come into focus. The camera doesn’t get the brunt of it, but the minute shifting suggests that Ingo is looking around for another trace of movement-- and he seems to find something, because he’s off again, darting between the watermills and past the bridge he’d initially been standing on.
Without pausing, he makes a sharp turn. There’s a flash of red bricks, and a young woman in black pigtails squawks as he dashes by. The apology he calls back likely doesn’t mean much, considering it’s delivered in Unovan.
He stops on a hill, tall enough to see onto the shared roof of a housing block. Sure enough, there’s an Abra floating atop it.
It tenses when it sees him, but he doesn’t try to step any closer or bridge the gap.
“Excuse me,” He calls to it instead, and it cocks its head. “Would you please return to Captain Cyllene? I’m sure you don’t mean to, but your play has been frightening the people who live here.”
The Abra floats ever-so-slightly nearer and shakes its head.
“No? But why?”
After a beat of silence, the Abra vanishes.
There’s a beat of silence, then a sigh.
“Seems I did little more than spin my wheels tonight.”
The Abra reappears without fanfare, but with a friend. The second Abra only lingers for a few seconds before teleporting away again, but the point has been made.
“You’re not Cyllene’s Abra.” Ingo concludes, and gets a chirp in response. “In that case, could I ask that you take your play to the beach south of here? It should give you plenty of room to practice Teleport, and I haven’t observed any other wild Pokemon there. You should be safe.”
It considers that, inclines its head, and bids an exit-- this time without making a reappearance.
“That’s actually something of a relief,” Ingo says as he moves to shut the recording off, “I would hate to get on either Captain Zisu or Cyllene’s bad side.”
---
Cracked Egg: Find and apologize to Volo for your last battle. COMPLETE
The Writing on the Wall Says…: Professor Laventon emphatically agrees that the presence of Unown in Hisui is worth further study. Ask ten people to try to read his message in Galarian, and then to read the same message as written in Unown. COMPLETE
Strange Happenings at Midnight: Sanqua, the captain of the Construction Corps, says that strange things are happening in her house at night. She wants you to find out what is going on. COMPLETE
Playing with Drifloon: It appears that a Drifloon has been sighted playing with one of the village children. Go speak to Mimi of the Security Corps for details. COMPLETE
Bothersome Bidoof: Three trouble-making Bidoof have invaded the village! Tsumugi from the Security Corps needs your help to catch them all. COMPLETE
Teleportation Troubles: Captain Zisu is certain she’s seen Cyllene’s Abra flitting about the village. Find a way to deter it from scaring the villagers with Teleport! COMPLETE
An Evolutionary Setback?: Professor Laventon explained to you that Pokemon with trainers don’t evolve spontaneously. This seems counter to the Pokemon you’ve trained in the past. Help one of your Pokemon evolve to determine whether this is a misunderstanding, or a legitimate difference.
---
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.
There’s running water somewhere nearby. It’s not fast, but it is steady.
“I’m not putting my trip to the Alabaster Icelands off.” The caller declares, immediately suspect in how guilty he sounds as he says it, “I’m just trying to be proactive. It wouldn’t do to get there and realize I don’t have the supplies I need, or to make another trip out because I missed key information while I was here.”
There’s a wooden ‘thunk’. The sound of the current becomes ever-so-slightly louder, and now Oshawott can be heard, gleefully splashing around somewhere.
“For now, the only expectation on me is my own, but I’m going to have to return to that station eventually. The Pearl Clan were incredibly kind to me, and all I’ve done is cause them inconvenience after inconvenience. I don’t want to exacerbate it. And…”
He trails off for a long moment, voice weak when he does pick back up. “And I very nearly died the last time I was there. I recognize that it’s a valid reason to fear going back, but I can’t let it get the better of me. If I focus on the other territories first, the specter of it would grow and grow until I couldn’t bear to face it.”
It goes silent for a handful of seconds. Something taps at the device in a nervous staccato rhythm.
“Sometimes, I look at the damage I’ve done to my coat, and wonder why in the world that Pokemon thought I was a good fit for this task-- by myself, at least. You’re better at communicating without words. You’re the one who knows the stats of a dozen species offhand. When you have a goal, you accept nothing less than victory. I wouldn’t wish this on you in a thousand years, but… but really, what good am I here without you?”
His voice grows quieter and quieter until, on the last clause, it’s barely audible over the water.
In the break, there’s a muted “Sha?”, which is gradually overtaken by rough breathing, just shy of actual crying.
A splash can be heard, then a wet-sounding landing, and inelegant human sputtering as the device briefly clatters down. Barely any distance away, Ingo forces a laugh and thanks Oshawott, but tries to convince him away in the same breath.
It’s a minute before he picks his device back up, and while he sounds slightly more put together, there’s still a distinct sadness to his voice.
“Regardless of any of that, we’re departing for the Alabaster Icelands in the morning. All preparations have been made and my excuses have run out. I just have to remind myself that it will be worth it in the end.”
Click.
---
The camera turns on, view full of white.
“I recognize that it’s silly, but I’ve always done my best battling with the subway’s Vs. Recorder on me, so I thought this might help me put on a brave face.” Ingo says as he moves down a path worn into the snow.
The thought stands on its own for some time as he walks onward, pausing briefly to direct Gligar toward a tree, where it comes back with two pincers full of apricorns and its tail swaying in expectation. It’s handed some manner of treat off camera, and then goes back to cruising through the sky.
He passes a Snorunt and affords it an audibly-nervous greeting; it seems to feel the same way about him, because it leaps away, unhindered by the deep snow it bounds across.
His grip on the camera shifts as he tries to control the slide down three levels of a cliff, looks one way, and then the other. The first has two Aipom loitering in it and culminates in a dead end. Down the other, the Snorunt gives him a look and preemptively bolts, leaving the incline through a frozen tunnel unguarded.
The camera pans up to Gligar, which seems to get the signal loud and clear, because it swoops down to stay within range as they head into the confined area. Footsteps on ice echo strangely around them, but the climb is unremarkable. The mouth of the cave is audible before the light shines in, wind whistling fiercely across it.
As he steps out into the Alabaster Icelands proper, Ingo’s grip on the device changes, and it records nothing but snow and the tips of his shoes for a moment. For a short spell, it trembles slightly, and the reason is unclear.
“If Warden Gaeric led me through the eastern portion of Avalugg’s Legacy and the Bonechill Wastes, then I have the entire western front to explore in order to gain a better feel for the landscape.” He says aloud, for an audience that doesn’t exist yet, “And also Heart’s Crag, from the look of it. That’s what I’ll tackle first. That way, if anything goes wrong, I’m still in somewhat familiar territory.”
One hand automatically snaps out in front of the camera as he sets his course, and then sheepishly falls back to his side. The way forward is down a slope, and he eases past an unnecessarily large Piloswine before dodging a massive hole in the snow. Gligar takes off again, and can be seen in the distance rooting through a snowdrift, his motivation unknown. The entire time, Ingo takes verbal note of the Pokemon around, reciting information or narrating observations on this first pass.
At the water’s edge, he has just enough time to start contemplating the gap before the camera snaps up, following his shifting focus.
On one of the snowy hills ahead stands a familiar purple figure, staring directly at him.
He has the presence of mind to switch the recording off just in time to censor, “Zekrom da--”