They of the Sun
Chapter Thirteen: A Little Too Personal

I was running through a forest. A forest that seemed to go on for an eternity. Shit, pretty sure I'm lost... This is what I get for falling asleep...

The trees are looming over me ominously. The moon casting soft lights over the ground in patches, guiding me. I feel so small.

The Commander with the purple hair told me not to go too far, but screw her. She wasn't my mom...

"Dad!" I cried out in fear as I now reached the gate of an abandoned chateau; worn and tired. Curiosity took hold as I felt drawn to it, but the land around me became rugged and started to rise.

I felt back as the chateau rose into the sky, being pushed up by a mountain. A mountain that was shrouded in darkness but Ash and Snow fell down on me....and the ground below me was giving way with bumps and cracks at the disturbance... until there was no longer any ground to hold me and I plunged into a sea of made of the sun...

       Lights flashed above me, along with the iciest pair of eyes far above... And then they were gone...

       "Cyra, it's nice of you to join us!"

I said nothing as I took another bite of Sweet malasada, staring at the pure white haired and dark skinned professor in front of me. She was a beauty with bright eyes and a smile to kill, nothing like her drooling dope of a husband standing next to her. My silence definitely didn't deter her for a second, she just kept beaming. Burnet signaled for all of us to follow her inside the Dimensional Research Lab. Fancy.

Sen and Hau had already pranked Lillie with a jump scare from the bushes for their daily giggles and shits. They now poked each other when the other wasn't looking, Nebby running around their feet reveling in short-lived freedom from the bag. I closed my eyes as I took another sip of espresso, the last few Trials wore me out... on top of being unable to sleep. Sweet baby Mew, all I wanted was a goodnight's rest... I was crankier than usual. The trials had followed me into even the deepest recesses of my subconscious... Climbing into a soft hotel bed after scaling volcanoes and running through jungles was probably the closest to the sweet release of death I'll ever get...

      Nineteen years old and ready to die. This is exactly what Tapu Koko wanted, right?

      "In past years, I researched dreams with my friend Fennel in Unova." Burnet said as we traversed the sterile, lightly lit halls. It was almost kind of eerie how cleared out this place was... Almost like a secret base... "But recently, I've taken up the research of Professor Mohn on Ultra Wormholes and the possibility of traveling to other dimensions with life forms similar to Pokémon."

She took off the jacket wrapped around her waist and set it down on a very worn computer chair. On the desks were organized files, blueprints, and pictures of her and Kukui with their Rockruff. A few more pictures of her in a city with another woman wearing a lab coat.. A very cozy space for her far away from home.

      "Alola is an absolute hotspot for Wormhole appearances," Burnet leaned against her desk, facing the rest of us. Her eyes shined with excitement as they traveled over us before comfortably settling on Kukui. Gag me. "So we have a constant monitor over the flux in space in this area..."

She gestured to the many science nerds hovering over screens and scribbling notes like their lives depended on it.

"We also research Pokémon such as Bronzong and Dusknoir, those that seem to have the ability for some kind inter-dimensional travel." She seemed to light up the whole room for the next part of the spiel. "Of course, there is one thing that may hold many answers."

      She kneeled behind her desk, reaching into one of the cabinets with care. "I thought I'd find this in Canalave Library but instead I found it in the care of a young man named Saturn."

Saturn.

This was already something I wasn't wanting to set foot in, but like Kukui said yesterday. I don't have a choice. I should've started running or pretend to be sick as she set the archaic book down on the table with a poof of dust. "And thank the Tapus, we have someone who might know a little bit on Sinnoh Mythology."

     The obvious answer was me, but I was kind of hoping she meant Lillie since she wasn't exactly from around these parts, either. I was visibly reaching there, though. Burnet's amber eyes met mine, the shine in them even more hopeful than before. "I know I may be hoping too much, but maybe you could tell us something about this book."

       I looked at everyone around me, their eyes expecting all too much of me. The simple answer was yes, I could read the scripts they couldn't. I could tell them a lot about what that book contained. There were few things my father left me with and this skill was one he drilled into my brain... But I didn't want to do this for them, I didn't want to do anything for anyone. I tossed the rest of my malasada into the close by garbage bin (much to Hau's dismay). Curiosity took hold as I took slow steps forward, my eyes setting on the yellowed pages. Some of the pages were ripped or tattered and the binding was worn... just like before.

        The drawings were ones I was all too familiar with, ones I had seen just as pictures and real life. I let my fingers trace over the images of the Lake Trio. I turned a few pages gingerly, feeling their frailness under my fingertips. I came across an ancient drawing of Palkia, Dialga and... I mentally shook myself, looking towards the script below. I let my eyes work over what would look like scribbles and Torchic scratches to anyone else...

   In the beginning, there was only a churning turmoil of chaos.
At the heart of chaos, where all things became one, appeared an Egg.
Having tumbled from the vortex, the Egg gave rise to the Original One...

       I realized that the words I thought were in my head, had been slipping out of my mouth. Promptly I clammed up. I hated how I just kept on digging my own grave. Pretty soon I'll hit the center of this good earth and melt alive. It'd probably be better than this.

      "How do you know how to read it?! With no effort!" Burnet gushed in amazement. "Saturn said the only one he knew could read it, aside from philologists, was his former boss. And the mention of a vortex? The mention of Palkia's abilities! This book is a treasure mine!"

        I shrugged at her enthusiasm, the feelings of uncomfortableness setting in. I really didn't want to be here, especially now that I was being pressed for more. I knew I should've just ran earlier, because it was getting way too personal. I pulled my lips back into a snarl, tired of the how's and why's spewing from Burnet.

     "I don't want to talk about it."

     "Cyra, please, you could be the key to a major breakthrough!"

     I felt the anger bubble the more she pleaded, until it burst... I slammed my fist down on the table, on the book, crumbling a page I had seen too many times before. "No!"

      I twisted around, just as one of Burnet's scientists beckoned her with over-eagerness. I was out of the room and down the hall in a heartbeat. I hated being probed, I hated being here, I hated the Island Challenge, I hated the cursed Tapus, I hated Alola.

    I stood outside, huffing, my teeth grinding together as I let a frustrated scream towards the sky. That scream was quickly lost as reality seemed to ripple and warp, until the stars imploded into a thin white light... There was a shadow that moved across like someone behind a skewed window and then it was gone.

      "Awe, we missed it!" Hau pouted from behind me, the tip tip tip of a fleet of footsteps followed. Burnet and Kukui were chattering excitedly at this rare occurrence...

     My eyes were glued to the untampered sky...

     And I found myself wishing that that Ultra Wormhole, would've opened up beneath me and swallowed me whole.

•••
A/N:

I skipped right on through the Akala  Trials because ... they don't really matter to the plot. I don't care for Lana and Kiawe. Although, Mallow is cute, even hers has nothing to offer. Colress isn't of interest... The only reason I did Ilima's is because it introduced half of the Ultra Recon Squad (URS), Team Skull, and Totem Pokemon.

But look at that, Cyra isn't all that dumb. Bum bum.

I may update early ~

Thanks for reading! :)

-sj