The Borders.

She had read reports, heard stories, but none of that compared to coming here in person.

Luckily she wasn’t walking through this place alone. Her dear cousin Laurence Anderson (who she swore sent her odd glances whenever she wasn’t looking) had brought her along.

But he wasn’t the only one. A trainer belt filled to the brim with Pokéballs offered her some measure of comfort. And alongside her a Minccino ran around curiously sniffing everything that moved, and sometimes even Lars for good measure.




MISSION: INTO THE WILDS (Border)
LOCATION: The Border

If Lars was an emoji right now he would be one of the several variants of meme characters holding a knife, the moment he caught sight of a little blur following her and that blur looked horrifyingly familiar—

“El, what the fuck,” were the first words out of his mouth. Try as he might to summon at least some shred of the power he shared with the snarky one, none came to fruition.

Was there something causing avatar powers to go wacky when they were in another reality?

He couldn’t help but side-eye her suspiciously a few more times afterward.

“Alright. We both read the reports. So Moltres was supposedly sighted coming out of here somewhere, right?” he continued as he scanned the desolate landscape.

---

whose dumb idea was it to come out here?!

The Minccino was quick to pick up on Lars’s distaste for it. Though Mincinno didn't quite understand why he seemed so apprehensive. But Minccino was quick to use that to its own benefit as it ran over to Elinor, requesting to be lifted up and cuddled, to which she responded agreeably.

“Supposedly.” Elinor said. “But the details were sparse as I am sure you already know.”

She eyed her surroundings warily. “Besides, it isn’t the only thing here from what the reports state. Spirits…” She paused almost as if in disbelief.

“And some odd manner of feline creature made of snow and swords for teeth?… Honestly, were it not because that report had been made by Josh Devlin and Johanna Joy of the Mauville and Ever Grande City gyms respectively, I wouldn’t have believed them.” She looked to Lars. "Has the other Rangers been reporting similarly odd creatures?"




MISSION: INTO THE WILDS (Border)
LOCATION: The Border

“The reports coming in are rather slow, considering that all the entrances have been marked as unsafe for the general public to enter and explore. But then again, when has that stopped the people of Hoenn from coming in and getting lost out there?”

He then gestured at the landscape that spread before them—though his gaze lingered maybe a little too long on the Minccino that she’d picked up.

(Now if she’d put that Pokémon away, then everything would be mostly peachy keen.)

At the mention of the word ‘spirits’, he looked over at her.

“Wait. You. You can’t be serious. Spirits? Like shades of the dead?” he confirmed with her.

---

whose dumb idea was it to come out here?!

Elinor gave an acknowledging nod. Hoenn’s people could not be contained, even if they wanted to even attempt the task.

“True, true.” Elinor admitted.

Minccino noticed the lingering gaze, and tried to give a gentle wave in Lars’s direction alongside a cute smile. But it didn’t seem to work.

“That’s what the reports state. I can scarcely believe it myself.” Same sources as before. “Don’t tell me that you are scared of ghosts!?” The slightest hint of a tease in her voice, as she moved to continue their exploration of this place.




MISSION: INTO THE WILDS (Border)
LOCATION: The Border

The moment she started heckling him about the shades of the dead, he pinched the bridge of his nose out of sheer—argh.

“Look, El, you don’t understand,” he began with a sigh. Where the fuck was he even going to begin?!

“My mom—that’s aunt Abigail to you—has been dead for some time now. What’s worse is that she was decapitated and her headless body was found in the crater lake in Sootopolis all those years ago.”

This was only going to get uglier the longer he went on.

“…the authorities did find her head some time later, but nobody was officially caught for her death. However, I believe differently… I… I think she was murdered.”

He then took another breath.

“…and you may not believe who my number one suspect is.”

---

whose dumb idea was it to come out here?!

He was right, she didn’t understand. She hadn’t lost any close family. For as much as she knew Lars, the rest of his side of the family was mostly a blur, so much so that she sometimes wondered if they even existed at all.

Of course the only one she didn’t doubt was Bill Anderson. But even he had been swallowed up by something, someone or someplace.

But she listened to Lars’s tale, grizzly as it was. It did spark some vague memories within her. But that had been during a time where she was well protected from anything she wasn’t supposed to hear.

“Oh? Who is your number one suspect?”

He can’t be thinking of Uncle Bill, right?




MISSION: INTO THE WILDS (Border)
LOCATION: The Border

Before he could reveal what he wanted to say, the wind around them dropped down to chilling levels—and no, this was not because of his connection with the Iceborne Mirage going awry—something like fog began rolling in not too far where they stood.

It wouldn’t take too long for them to hear someone rambling in Alto Marean, and the look on Lars’s face froze the moment he realized just who was going on and on and on about… that.

“El… get behind…” he stammered, before the fog seemingly split aside and someone—one of the someones he never thought he’d be meeting out here—materialized.

It was the one they were talking about—

“Ma…?”

‘Odio, see, what did I tell you about him? He’s not going to listen unless I say it myself—’

For a few moments, the specter looked like she was going to literally lose her head, but…

She was talking to someone else, as to who it was it wasn’t made clear yet, but the way she was rambling, clipping in and out between Alto Marean made it clear that she was arguing with whoever it was.

---

whose dumb idea was it to come out here?!

The Mincinno tugged itself in Elinor’s arms as the fog rolled in and the ghosts started to appear.

Lars was quick to offer her safety, and well, she accepted his offer even if she was capable of protecting herself.

Elinor gazed upon the ghastly visage that appeared. A flicker of memories shoots through her, faint ones. She couldn’t even remember when she had last seen Lars’s mother among the living. It had probably been when she had still been young and innocent, if ever she had been such a thing.

But the sight did make her wonder. If a person’s ghost could appear here. Could a Pokémon’s soul do the same?

With that thought in mind she stayed quiet. The ghost clearly had something to say to Lars.




MISSION: INTO THE WILDS (Border)
LOCATION: The Border

‘I think you’ll get your chance to yell at him, ‘ma, because he’s there.’

That second voice made his blood run even colder than it already had.

‘And he ain’t alone, but I’m sure that’s not his boyfriend, because—’

“Léanne!” he couldn’t resist yelling, the moment the second humanoid shade took form and revealed his catty younger sister. Down to the last freckle and equally-catty smirk.

“What the hell!” he wheezed out, and there it was—both his younger sister and their matriarch, Abigail Anderson, appeared from the wispy smoke.

‘Mamma mia, you’re right, it is him!’

“Oy…” he groaned, smacking a palm against his forehead. He then realized that he was with his cousin, and then cleared his throat.

“What—what are you two doing out here?!” he exclaimed, before realizing—

“Okay, scratch that. El, meet Léanne. And… ‘ma.”

‘That’s la zia Abigail to you—oh, my. I know that he had many siblings, you do resemble one of them.’

---

whose dumb idea was it to come out here?!

Elinor watched and listened, somewhat blending in with the background as she so often would during family gatherings of old.

An old habit she supposed. She hadn’t even realized she had done it before Lars dragged her into the spotlight.

“Hi.” She sure seemed like a deerling in the headlights for a moment.

Luckily her Minccino was a bit more cordial with the dead. It quickly wiggled out of her arms, landing on the ground before running over to the ghost and offering each of them a greeting handshake with a chipper "Cinno"




MISSION: INTO THE WILDS (Border)
LOCATION: The Border

‘Aren’t you Ed’s oldest?’

“Ma, now’s not the time for that—”

The ghostly apparition that had his mother’s face squinted over at Elinor, taking her in for a few moments. ‘Oh, oh, you actually look more like Felicia, it’s the hair—’

“Oy…” he groaned as he hid his face in both his hands as the language between them shifted to melodic Alto Marean, Lars translating for her since he knew his cousin’s know-how of the language was spotty at best.

“She says you look like la zia Felicia, Felicia Marino I think… another rich family from old Alto Marean high society… mamma mia all the rich families know each other… geez,” he sighed, while his sister laughed at his distress.

‘But enough of that, ‘ma! You didn’t see…’

“Léanne, I swear if you’re going to talk about Evan I’m going to scream at you,” he grumbled as the other specter caught sight of the Minccino…

‘You know, Elinor, lo zio William—uncle Bill to you—also has a Minccino. Particularly nasty. Even had the nerve to name it after—’

“Ma! Okay, that’s enough. Ugh,” he groaned again before running his hands through his hair. “Did you two really have to dredge up everything embarrassing about our family?!”

‘Is Claude still around?’

“Sis, you’d see him over where you are if he wasn’t. Last he came by from Unova he was just as usual. Spoiled rotten and still thinks extremely highly of himself,” he continued with a very pointed eye roll. As the oldest, it was his divine right to sass his younger siblings without retribution.

“But anyway… did you… you know… see her parents over… where you’re at?”

He then looked over at his cousin, wondering if she was thinking what he’d thought of at that very moment.

---

whose dumb idea was it to come out here?!

Ed’s oldest…

The words didn’t register at first. Was the ghost talking about her father? But his name wasn’t Ed, it was Edward… Certainty arrived only when her mother’s name was mentioned as well.

“Yeah, that would be me.” She replied, still a bit unsure about the whole thing.

Uncertainty was pushed away by amusement as Lars began to play translator. Not that the familiar ghosts made it easy for him, they seemed keen on reminding Elinor of the similarities she shared with the family and Uncle Bill in particular.

But that was cut short as Lars seemed less inclined on the topic. Only to be asked about Claude instead. Luckily no bad news there. Minccino used this moment to run back to Elinor, having decided that it had done what it could to be cordial.

Elinor looked rather surprised when Lars’s question came.

“Lars… They are not dead as far as I know…” Surely she would’ve heard about it if they were. But then again she had heard nothing from them in ages.

Perhaps it was time for her to contact them?




MISSION: INTO THE WILDS (Border)
LOCATION: The Border