[attr="class","aurelie-lyrics"]Those who tell the stories rule the world.

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Ever since she first received the Calyrex shard, Aurelie had focused almost single-mindedly on learning more about shards: what they were like, what powers and limitations they had, and why they were so different from ordinary Pokemon or Legendaries who chose avatars. She read books, looked up articles on the internet, and consulted experts in Pokemon biology. There was so much she didn't know and so much knowledge out there she never imagined.

But until recently, she'd forgotten that, while she needed to learn, the Calyrex shard had much to learn as well. Not just about its own abilities, but also about its new holder and the world around it. Aurelie almost despaired at that point, knowing she was probably the least qualified person in Hoenn to teach the shard anything.

But she quickly thought of someone far better qualified to educate the Calyrex shard from their own store of wisdom and experience: the original Calyrex. So, she packed a modest picnic basket, brushed up on her reading about the historical Calyrex, and took an air taxi back to Sootopolis.

As she and the Calyrex shard approached the revitalized Dyna Tree, Aurelie did a double take when she saw someone else standing next to Calyrex. It took her a few seconds to recognize the someone else as Howard, holding a slim, colorful book in his hand.

It still doesn't look like him, but that's his voice. Anyone could wear a hat and eyepatch, but no one else in Hoenn could recognize her so quickly, pronounce her name correctly, and manage not to infuse it with disdain and condescension.

"Howard! Hey!" she called, waving hello. "What're you doing here? Did you come to talk to Calyrex too?"

Beside her, the Calyrex shard wandered forward cautiously and stared up at Howard, its gaze bright and curious with no hint of malice or understanding. Then, it looked back toward Aurelie and tilted its head to one side, almost as if asking for either help, permission, or clarification.

"It's fine," Aurelie reassured the shard, urging it gently forward. "This is Howard Slayte, Rocket's finance admin. And my..." She hesitated for a moment, glancing up to eye him questioningly. "My friend. And I'm sure he'd love to meet you too."

---

howard slayte

Friend? Enemy? Weird skinchanger? It was hard to tell, given how different everything was. The facial expressions were the same. The mannerisms were the same. Yet everything seemed a world apart. War had a tendency to erode the soul. Every person in Team Rocket was seemingly lesser compared to when they had first started on this march towards supremacy six years ago.

Yet wounds on the soul were easy to ignore. When the physical form changed, it was easy to turn around and recognize how much had been lost between the first step in the journey and the last.

The admin gave a cheery, albeit weary, salute, before his eye fell upon the Calyrex floating next to Aurelie.

"So the rumors were true." This Calyrex felt different than the specter that had stalked the smith for the better half of a year. It was more grounded and physical, yet it was still a shard of the true king. There were no memories bouncing around in that empty head it held. "Congratulations."

Yet rather than elation, all he felt was an exhausted trepidation. Now that Aurelie had a shard, she would be targeted. That revelation made him sad.

"I'm teaching him about economic policy. I've been tied up in Petalburg, but the king's studies are sacrosanct. He needs to be ready to lead." Even if Calyrex wouldn't set financial policies, it was best for him to learn. "Being a guardian gets lonely, see."

As the shard floated forward, tentatively, the archaeologist merely smiled.

"I can leave if they're afraid. I'm about to wrap up, actually, and I'd rather not make your shard feel uncomfortable." The admin had the decency to look embarrassed as he spoke again. "I was going to read Calyrex a story, if you're fine with me staying."

---

Aurelie Lefevre

[attr="class","aurelie-lyrics"]Those who tell the stories rule the world.

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The contrast between Howard's congratulatory words and muted, weary tone when his eye fell on the Calyrex shard beside her made Aurelie chuckle self-deprecatingly. "Oh, well, thank you. It's, well..."

It's a small thing, really, compared to the power you and so many others have gained, she wanted to say. And any rumors about me...well, I can't imagine they compare at all to the rumors I've heard about you. And Petalburg.

But she didn't know if she dared go there, or wanted to. "It's amazing what you can get sometimes when you run off to try and stab an ancient dragon god in the butt and then water a tree, I guess," she finished instead, shrugging. "But I don't recommend trying that too often."

His explanation of why he was here talking to the original made her throw her head back and laugh with delight. "So, wait," Aurelie said, looking back and forth between all three figures before her "Let me see if I've got this straight.

"You see, I brought the shard here so it could learn something about—or even from, if I was lucky—from the original Calyrex," the redhead explained. "And you came here to teach the original Calyrex. So, clearly, what I should've done from the start is brought the shard to you so it could learn from you."

She laughed again, her face bright with amusement. "So, no, please don't leave! I don't think the shard is scared. I'm not sure it knows or remembers enough to be scared of anything. It's lucky that way, don't you think?"

Suiting actions to words, Aurelie smiled encouragingly at the shard and urged it forward. Seemingly reassured, it turned and offered a gracious bow to Howard, the huge bud atop its head bobbing like a flower tossing in the breeze.

Choosing a patch where some moss had managed to grow back after the cataclysmic floods, the redhead sat down cross-legged and opened her picnic basket. A faint smell of apples, warm bread, and sausage wafted out.

"Please, Howard," she said lightly, yet with an oddly solemn note in her voice. She tilted her head to look up at him. "Tell us all a story. I know I'd much rather hear that than about economics and business. And...I'm sure we all need to learn as much as we can, right now, in whatever ways we can."

---

howard slayte

Calyrex bowed. Aurelie asked with the tone of someone requesting a great favor. The admin's only response is to laugh, and such laughter echoed across a thousand distant leaves attached to branches that stretched into the heavens.

"You're so formal. Calyrex is rubbing off on you. A Kalosian duchess, through and through." His eye sparkled with faint amusement. His amusement only seemed to grow as he looked at Calyrex, though his voice was soft as he spoke to the king's unconscious vassal. "My king, you bow to no one."

Calyrex had already fulfilled its oath a millennia ago. History had forgotten it in all but the faintest of fairy tales, echoing across a thousand years. The king had fought, it had perished, and it had revived due to the circumstances of this foreign region that it now called its own.

It was cruel to call upon it again. Yet if Hoenn's people would rouse their own weapons of war to fight against the divine, then Galar would follow. Such was the circular nature of history, and of the world as a whole.

I am sorry, High King. I wish I had met you in Galar. Though he didn't turn to Aurelie, he thought of her too. It's cruel that you were dragged into this, shopkeep.

That was what Aurelie had wanted to be, after all.

"I see you brought food. Calyrex probably eats better now then he did when he was alive. I'm almost jealous." What a lucky rabbit, to get taught by him and fed by Aurelie. With a cough and a leisurely yawn, Howard leaned back against the Dyna Tree. "And I will teach you what I know. Come and sit. Let me tell you a story."

The Violet Book flipped open, and the admin read a story of Motostoke.

SPOILER: Click to show

From another w'rld, heroes arriveth,
acting as earthen bulwarks for our town to survive.
Violent women slayeth the hands at our throats
while a mistress of the forge builds cotes
for our wingless people as the bleeding train
is severed from its track.
what more shalt beest remembered?

Did clothe in the black knight's armeth'r didst a bird
arriveth, with froren stare and its poisonous fyrd.
From the depths, a geant Garbod'r didst appeareth,
bringing stench and sludge to Motostoke's sph're.
Our h'roes combated backeth, and did protect our town
and so we didst bestow our crowns.
What more shalt beest remembered?

Prophecy's riddles unfold, entwined in a mad tower with poison's haze,
Glowing ore tinkered upon, its power carefully appraised.
Training camps arise, wielders sharpen their might,
While the kingdom sharpens the mind; knowledge's flame is made bright.
Travelling in our policed Motostoke is made with ease,
Smithing's hammer strikes, creations born of fire and steam’s breeze,
Our courier's path unfurls, messages on swift steed,
As an orphanage is made for the young ones so desperate in need.
What more shalt beest remembered?

Through the passage of ten years, time's relentless flow,
Our heroes evolved, their knowledge and strength did grow.
They unlocked the secret, the power to dynamax,
Harnessing cosmic energy, one birthed from the primordial past.
What more shalt beest remembered?

Through the passage of another decade's reign,
Time weaved its tapestry, bearing both joy and pain.
Illusory Zamazenta emerge from the stones,
On the day of least light, to lead us to to the final zone.

In the heart of the battle's pestilent fray,
Against an army of Poison, we held our sway.
Hexperts and Hermits led the charge on the bloody wold,
But we stood unyielding, steadfast tenfold.

A gigantic Cinderace, atop a burning fire,
With agile strikes, it sought our pyre.
The enormous Inteleon with an eye so astute,
From its tower it stalked, seeking our heroes to shoot.
A Rillaboom, mighty and strong,
Its thunderous drums echoed, a primal vinesong.
But with unwavering spirit and valor untamed,
We vanquished every force, our victory proclaimed.

In a clash of titans, The Black Knight and Skeleton engaged,
We united, our valor unswayed.
Together we fought, and the Skeleton surrendered.
But The Black Knight did not possess a heart so tender.

Greed in its eyes, it turned upon our kin,
A looming threat, radiance collected within.
Yet in that dire moment, the true Zamazenta revealed,
Brandishing its golden shield, its power unconcealed.

With a dauntless dash, it rushed the night,
Defeating The Black Knight, a radiant blight.
As it fled to Ultra Space, Skeleton in its wake,
Zamazenta's courage shone, the realm's destiny now truly safe.

In the realm's fading hues, where colors slowly dim,
The memory of this epic tale, will never grow thin.
Whispers and echoes resonate, in timeless harmony they may slumber.
Legends woven by stars, the echoes of heroes, forever we remember.

When he stopped, Howard's throat was parched.

"Hm." He seemed perplexed as he tucked his chin against his chest, looking towards Aurelie and Calyrex. "That's odd."

---

Aurelie Lefevre

[attr="class","aurelie-lyrics"]Those who tell the stories rule the world.

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It was her turn to laugh, free and genuine, when Howard teasingly compared her to a Kalosian duchess because of her serious manner. "Oh no! You've found out my secret identity, the true reason why I love elegant gowns and fancy parties. Remind me someday to let you tour my grand ancestral chateau."

Her eye widened, though, to hear Howard acknowledge the shard as a king in its own right—and as his king, no less. For its part, the shard smiled serenely at him and nodded slowly in understanding, before reaching forward to pat his hand with its tiny paw in a gesture of appreciation or benediction.

Then, as he began his story, it fastened its great lambent eyes attentively upon his face. Aurelie listened too, at first bemusedly and then with growing recognition and astonishment, especially when the word "Motostoke" passed his lips.

It couldn't be...our Motostoke, could it? she thought, shaken by the reminders of twenty years of a life she could never fully remember and yet could never entirely forget. Even now, the words he read aloud dredged up dim, nebulous memories that nevertheless seared her heart with still-vivid emotions.

The Garbodor at the stadium...the steam train spewing sludge...the Dynamax ore... Aurelie struggled to grasp those distant memories, her sandwich half-spilling from her fingers in her distraction.

When he stopped, the silence seemed too abrupt, too sudden. The shard, at least, seemed to approve, clapping its paws together and then pointing excitedly to the book in Howard's hands, as if to ask for another. Aurelie's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out for a moment.

"What...what is that book?" she finally stammered, unable to take her eye off Howard's face. "Who wrote all that? How did it know about Motostoke? How did you know? Why...why did you pick that story to tell Calyrex?"

There were half a dozen other cities in memory-Galar that he could've read about, she thought. Why did he pick Motostoke? Or...did he pick it at all? Or did the book just happen to open to that story?

" Also, what's odd?" she asked quizzically, her brow creasing in a frown.

Her last question was punctuated by the plop of her sandwich finally falling onto the moss. "Oh, damn it! Ugh, I wonder if the five-second rule applies to moss growing under a Dyna Tree after a huge flood..."

---

howard slayte

The plop of a sandwich against soggy moss is not a sound to wet the appetite. As various ingredients and fillings oozed into the moss, the admin grimaced.

"I wouldn't think so." A Caterpie emerged from the moss, munching happily on the bread. If the five second rule did exist, that Caterpie had dragged it out behind the Dyna Tree and shot it dead. Rather than mourn the sandwich, the admin simply buried the sorrow at losing an Aurelie sandwich in his heart and looked at the book in his hand.

"The Violet Book. It's something that manifested out of nowhere, as far as I know. It contains a series of fairy tales of a Galar that nobody seems to remember." His eye met hers. "But Calyrex seems to. You do, as well."

Twenty years in Galar. Howard had gotten to experience three months in the epilogue of that great tale, when all the heroes had left that world behind.

The fairy tale didn't have an impact on him. It was a tragedy that he didn't get to feel the same connection to it that Aurelie did, but Howard's tale had come after, and would be honored in memory alone. Any trials he and Navy had gone through had been etched into a blade of steel.

"It's odd because it's so similar to the Galar that I experienced, but so distinct. Nothing in this book happened in my journey, but it's familiar all the same." He frowned and inclined his head, musing on the implications. "It means that the world you all experienced must have been quite magical, indeed."

He blinked once.

"I used to be envious of the fact that I'd never see that world, but after experiencing my own, it's likely for the best." The violet serpent on the cover of the book gleamed in the light. "As for why I told the story to Calyrex..."

He shrugged.

"Just felt right."

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Aurelie Lefevre