Music: 「棘」by ELFENSJóN

The house was empty, save for the wizened man sitting cross-legged on the wooden floorboards, his hands clasped together, one slightly above the other to push the rosary beads of a bracelet down one by one, perpetuating the cyclic movement of each and every bead. His eyes were shut without force and they opened just as easily. He was cleanly shaven now, his wrinkles exposed at all corners of his face, wrinkles that smiled as he smiled at Mindy.

"Did you lose my word the moment you talked?" He asked. Mindy sensed disappointment and rage in his tone, yet he wasn't upset and furious at her either. "You were afraid."

Mindy nodded and sat before him. "Is it alright with you? Me being here?"

"I don't always receive guests after midnight, but you seem like you need help."

"I was betrayed."

That, to Mindy, was an understatement. An overstatement, in the eyes of the man. Still, she let the words flow out of her lips, and he absorbed every syllable, every intonation. He remained attentive while his bracelet went round and round his grip, while the door opened and closed gingerly as a Murkrow joined them. When Mindy was done, he gave her a grim smile.

"Verity, Acuity, Valour. Emotion, Knowledge, Willpower." He set his beads down between Mindy and himself. "Veni, Vidi, Vici."

I came, I saw, I conquered.

Mindy twiddled her thumbs and glanced at the Murkrow beside her. She didn't need ill fortune by her side now.

"Shoo, Rasu, this is a private conversation."

"I appreciate the company," said the man. "Come over, sit on my finger."

Rasu did as told. This man had a magnetic presence, and the Murkrow liked it.

Mindy asked hesitatingly for his name, to which he admitted he had none. Or rather, he once had one, but Traded it away on his first Trade. Honour for name. Name - identity, reputation, label, a mark left on every trodden stone. Was it truly worth it?

"It was, though not anymore." The man sucked in a breath and Rasu shook his feathers. "I was a samurai when Sinnoh was still Hisui. It was Eterna's honour for my name, a settlement built in honour of the Pokémon of the Creation legend."

Mindy punched her chest upon choking on her saliva. Rasu blinked.

"I know," said the man as he raised his hands to his chest. He pushed himself off the floorboards, sending a tiny creak across the house, and walked to the window with his hands intertwined on his hips. Mindy felt compelled to join him.

As she walked over, her shadow wavered and crossed the floorboards and the gaps in between like a finger running through the strings of a tonkori, whipping up a song with neither beginning nor end, encapsulating the beauty of nature in its breath. Rasu also sensed the mystical aura of the man and his house and responded with a quiet cry. A beam of moonlight brushed against the man's profile gently while he pinned his gaze on the ambiguous statue outside. Mindy looked out of the window in a bid to emulate him.

The hybrid of Time and Space remained majestic under the stars. The city was quiet. A few people strolled alongside their Pokémon. No matter where she looked, Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie were nowhere to be seen. Relief washed over her, but she could not shake off the undercurrents of trepidation. She put her hands on the grilles.

The man placed a hand on top of hers. She tilted her head towards him and prompted him to continue what he wanted to say earlier, and added a question - what if I came, I saw, but I cannot conquer?

He pushed open the window with his free hand and brought Mindy's hands out into the night air. "When the literal fails, go figure."

It was why Psychic-types were prized over Fighting-types, he explained. Intuition held the power to unlock what brute force cannot.

When asked where she could go from here for answers, and if she should search for Rotom, he let go of her hands and gestured towards the window. Mindy arched a brow. Rasu flew out and watched her from midair.

"Dialkia will show you the way."

Mindy crawled out of the house through the window with gritted teeth and almost scraped her knee. She thanked him and faced the statue. When she turned back, he was once again in his meditative state.

The statue wasn't any different at night. The only thing that stood out was the neck which appeared more off-centre now, a little more towards the right. Mindy took it as her sign to head east of Eterna.

The walk took her through a short route in Mt. Coronet, then a hazy field of fresh grass. The haze reminded her of her drowsiness. Rasu pecked her on the nape of her neck whenever her head hung low. She would jump with a start, feeling slightly recharged for a while before her eyes sought the ground again. This would go on and on for a few dozen times till the duo reached a quaint town rich with myths and legends.

Celestic Town was a town that conveyed the past, sister to Eterna in this sense. Its place of interest lied in Celestic Ruins, a cave in the middle of the town, full of etchings telling the legend of Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie, which made Mindy cringe from the coincidence. On second thought, her discovery was nothing surprising, not when it was suggested by a fellow Trader.

What surprised her was the Rotom's presence. It took the form of a Pokédex adequately known in some other regions as the Rotom Dex.

"The Guardians created the Red Chain to bind and to swell the powers of Creation." Rotom said after thanking Mindy and Rasu for their efforts in protecting the Old Chateau and its inhabitants. "Cyrus, the ex-boss of Team Galactic, once used the Guardians powers to call upon the Pokémon of Space and Time. Their collision summoned Giratina."

"It was on the news," Mindy commented.

Rotom buzzed. "The origination of Giratina, the guardian of antimatter... Existence in moderation... Do no annihilation. Maintain the same cycle. It is the blessing of Giratina."

It revealed that this was the inscription of the third and final plate on the Dialkia statue.

"I must go now. To the Old Chateau."

Mindy nodded, then stopped it with a question that kept bugging her. "Who are your friends?"

Rotom brandished a mischievous smile before vanishing. "The universe always responds in kind."

The moment it left, footsteps resounded through Celestic Ruins. Mindy's heart raced and she hugged Rasu for support.

"What are you of all people doing here?" A saccharine voice asked.

Mindy traced the tall figure's yellow hair over the black cuffs of her sleeves and rolled her eyes. If it wasn't Cynthia, the previous champion of Sinnoh, who happened to live in the very town Mindy was currently in.

"I came to know more about the Lake Guardians," Mindy said. Technically, it was the truth.

A sharp smile reached Cynthia's lips as she crossed her arms. "You know something about Kōki's disappearance, don't you?"

"I don't know." Mindy shifted her weight.

"Why did you trade away your Haunter? Did you know about his insomnia?"

"I don't know."

Rasu wanted to say something, yet this woman was terrifying. She exuded the aura of a Garchomp. Rasu could well handle a Gabite, but a Garchomp would be too much. He backed down.

"Where are you going now, this late at night?" Cynthia sighed. "I hear you're a Trader now, but the Lake Guardians aren't with you."

Mindy flicked her eyes at the mouth of the cave, the sarsen, the bluestones, the short buildings in the background. "We had an argument."

"I'm not surprised, given your immaturity," Cynthia snorted. "You can stay at my house for the night, if you like." She glimpsed the hopeful expression lurking in Mindy's visage and added, "It's just that my grandmother's interested in you after word spread about your Trading business."

"She wants to Trade?"

"Nothing of that sort." Cynthia turned her back on Mindy, earning a scoff from Rasu, and walked out of Celestic Ruins.

Mindy and Rasu trailed behind the former Champion to a house at the outskirts of Celestic Town girdled by greenery and trilithons. They sauntered up the rising ground. Mindy was given an air mattress in the guest room and a cup of piping hot hōjicha, courtesy of Carolina, Cynthia's grandmother.

"Please do not mind my granddaughter," said Carolina as she passed Mindy the tea, and some sunflower seeds to Rasu. "She's still sulking over the Champion's disappearance."

Mindy accepted the hōjicha with a slight nod and sipped, the steam filling her nostrils. She exhaled from her mouth, suddenly glad that she was no longer mute, her mouth no longer a fine line that made a stickman out of her.

Shortly after, she fell asleep.

Not an hour passed before a lavender flash engulfed the house and blanched the grass outside. Mindy rubbed her eyes and wandered about the house, Rasu hopping on one foot beside her. Cynthia, her sister, Celeste, and her grandmother remained fast asleep despite her attempts to wake them. Shrugging her shoulders, Mindy trudged to the window and squinted.

Her legs took her speedily out into the open with a hard swing of the door. Vertigo seized her being as she faced the topsy-turvy world, now dyed in a bleak violet.

Something shifted on her left. A patch of land parted from the earth and rotated gradually as if going at breakneck speed would cause it to crumble. The inversion scared her. Fear dug into her innards when she realised this was occurring all around her, even to a pond, the aquatic Pokémon dropping onto dry land and forced to flop for their dear lives.

Celestic Town had turned into a gathering of floating platforms inverted and darkening.

Rasu glanced at her and ruffled his feathers.

"The Distortion World is here, Mindy."