”That’s what I’m saying!” Locke whispered back to gabrielle black, glancing back at the barricade as he followed the group inside.

Casso-Casso showed no signs of backing down though, already dragging his trainer by the hand further into the maze. As the group ventured deeper and deeper inside, however, the more surreal their surroundings became. The images that appeared on some of the surfaces made no sense to him. Was there some kind of projector hidden somewhere?

One in particular immediately set him on edge.

Locke stared, with all the uncomfortable awareness of a voyeur, at the scene of luka chêne and paxton concordas as the two descended further into darkness, until they were out of sight completely.

Without waiting for the others’ reactions, he hurried to follow the shape of this particular pane, trying to catch another glimpse of his friends. But the only thing waiting for him was an endless expanse of twists and turns and dead ends, and the prickling sensation of being watched.

Technically, Locke was always being watched these days. They might not have even noticed the extra set of eyes on them if their every sense wasn’t being heightened by the claustrophobic and disorienting structure they were presently trapped in.

Thankfully Casso-Casso had a better mind for patterns than his trainer, and with the Smeargle’s help they managed to return to where they’d started and regroup with at least one other member of their party: the wolfish-looking man with a mane of white hair who was currently staring between them and his fist in confusion.

”Seeing wha-AH!” Locke’s hand, which had been carefully guiding them against the mirrors, suddenly dipped into the glass as they stepped forward, with the rest of their body tumbling after it until they were fully submerged in the wall.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

”Badges? I didn’t know you were into that sorta thing.” Hideo Kino had struck them as a lot chiller than the average competitor. ”How many do you have?”

Locke continued making light conversation as the team were shuffled upstairs, almost working up the nerve to properly address the only person they didn’t recognize before they were presented with their first challenge.

De-De, energized from a full meal and more than a little sugar-high, was already taking a running start into a Rapid Spin, until Locke hoisted her off the ground mid-rotation. ”No, no, we just gotta avoid em, not get rid of em,” they explained. The Delibird puffed her cheeks out, clearly upset about her cool moment getting interrupted for some dumb “rules,” but settled for simply taking off overhead while leaving her trainer to tiptoe their way across.

He stopped midway, however, on catching sight of the message scrawled into the floor. ”Were there supposed to be riddles?” Four. Time and space. Pane? Like a window? Martín del Mar was right, he really needed to look into myths more…

”D-Don’t even joke about that!” Locke whined at angelo vestri as he finally made it to the other side. This was supposed to be a fun little puzzle-solving excursion to ease him and his team into battling. The last thing he needed was to think about all the end of the world junk that’d been following him around for the past few months. ”It probably just means geographically. Like, ‘the ends of the earth’ or something…” he suggested, more for his own peace of mind than anything.

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Gods had it really only been two months since Christmas? Time flew when you were missing some of it.

Locke took a deep breath.

”Right, so yesterday-Well, okay, so it actually started back in September but I didn’t know that cause Uxie kept making me forget.” They reached for their notepad, flipping back to what they’d noted down about the encounter earlier. ”I was doing some replanting in one of the community gardens in Oldale when this Pokémon I’d never seen turned up. I went to go look at it, but it just vanished, and all of a sudden I couldn’t remember what I was doing, but there was this thing.”

They held up the Unusual Charm, its yellow face now blank and inert.

”There was an Unown-I on here, but after meeting up with a bunch of other people who also had charms yesterday it disappeared.” He placed the charm down and returned to his notes, flipping much further ahead to the most recent page. ”Or, most of us had charms at least, some of which were like mine, but others were pink and from Mesprit-who didn’t make them forget how they got their charms but did make it so they couldn’t, like, talk about it? I guess? And the people who didn’t have charms like Martín del Mar were visited by Azelf; who gave them a single word instead of a letter and a prophecy for each of them-which were different from the prophecies we got at the meeting-which were also different from the visions we got at Martin’s office-right! The office!”

Why did the end of the world need so much context? They hadn't even brought up the church yet. There was more flipping as Locke tried to catch his breath alongside his thoughts, the last few bites of stir-fry now completely forgotten.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Locke owned exactly two outfits, and didn’t particularly feel like getting his slightly-nicer blazer any more damaged than it already was. Either from the battles scheduled to start soon, or the pastries he and De-De were currently stuffing into their faces.

He greeted Hideo Kino and Elga between mouthfuls of cake. ”Howzit goin’?”

The team was soon gathered without major event, aside from a brief elbow scuffle with angelo vestri while wrapping up some of the less-frosted treats to store away for later. Locke also topped off his thermos with some of the matcha he’d been drinking, favoring it over the collection of rarer blends available, and even missing the slight bitterness that came with the cheaper variety he was used to.

Really, they felt completely out of place here. Between the ostentatious décor, the expensive food, and even down to the entire purpose of the event, they were a little out of their depth. But at least the rest of their team were more on their level, in terms of fanciness.

”I also immediately thought about the Mighty Psyducks…” Locke admitted in response to skyler dross’ suggestion. They were always a sucker for an underdog story. ”I’m sure Hideo’ll come up with something good though,” they added encouragingly.

They were almost expecting more food when the Mr. Mime wheeled out the trolley, and stared blankly between the strange assortment items that were revealed instead. De-De was less hesitant, however, snatching up the Rawst Berry and lifting it towards her open beak until her trainer managed to confiscate it. ”No! Not yet!”

---

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Locke got to his feet and stepped in front of Eris Halla. ”D-Don’t pin this on her! You chose this!” It was clear now that there was no talking the other man down.

Especially not after he pulled out the gun.

It was Finley Black that saved him this time. And Hideo Kino as well, handily disabling another round of Water Shuriken before Locke even finished processing his sudden arrival. Actually, why were all these children protecting him? Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

Well, here was a good chance.

With the Rockect distracted, Locke finally clicked open the Pokéball in their hands and summoned their Natu. The tiny bird was further dwarfed by her much larger opponents and allies, but they weren’t going for big and scary.

”The gun!”

Ka-Ka focused her unblinking gaze on the weapon in bryan delarosa’s fist, letting her psychic energy gather around it until she was ready to pull off her Trick. If she succeeded, the Beast would at least be disarmed, if still extremely dangerous.

Regardless, Locke’s next order would be directed at their Castform, who had until now focused on maintaining his Rain Dance. They didn’t have anything for the Dhelmise that wouldn’t potentially harm the hostage, but with the fires dying down behind them they could at least weaken the Greninja somewhat.

”Nim-Nim! Bring back the sun!”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

The maze looked nice. The hedges were massive, but neatly trimmed all the way to the top, and even hosted a myriad of flowers to add a pop of color here and there. Locke could hear the playful cries of various Pokémon in the area, all apparently working continuously on the maze from inside and out.

It was, all-around, a nice addition to the scenery.

If it wasn’t also directly in the middle of his usual route into Fortree.

He groaned, dragging a hand over his face in despair. Well, no sense wasting any more time.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Pug recovered faster than Locke did. He wrapped a meaty paw around the front of his coat and yanked him forward until that titular squashed snout was snorting hot air and cigarette breath in his face to the tune of shattering store lights, forcing Ruff-Ruff to abandon his arm to avoid being crushed between the two. ”I-I’m sure we can still talk this out!” Locke pleaded, even as he braced himself for the swollen fist making a bee-line for his face.

He was saved, of course, by the very person he’d been tasked to save.

The woman’s attempts at peace were also rebuffed, but she at least seemed quicker to take the gang’s offer of violence. Locke couldn’t see what Pokémon she summoned from here, but it was enough of a distraction to pull Pug and his friends attention form killing them, and they weren’t one to pass up an opportunity to run twice.

They raised their arms and let themselves not so much slip as fall out of their bulky, thrift-store jacket and onto the ground at Pug’s feet, where they wasted no time in scrambling backwards until they were side-by-side with the woman who’d dragged them into this mess. It took the baldie a few seconds to register the sudden loss of weight in his hand, but he soon tossed the garment to the side with a scowl and stepped back to let his equally-intimidating Pangoro take his place.

Here, however, Locke could finally see the Pokémon their forced-upon ally had deigned appropriate shopping partners, and felt the odds even just a little. ”…And you’re sure you need help?” They asked, craning their neck to take in the pair of behemoths.

Ruff-Ruff seemed raring for a fight though, already Honing his Claws against the ground. Locke stood with another sigh, dusting dirt off their jeans and pulling their phone out of their pocket. There were still some ways they could be useful.

They raised their phone to face the impromptu battlefield, tapping at it until the screen began to glitch and a pair of yellow eyes could be seen.

”Trick Room.”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Locke couldn’t help briefly lifting their gaze from their phone to cast a wary glance upwards. There was nothing blessed about Hoenn’s Lugia.

It was only an expression, however, and the skies were clear of clouds and corrupted legendaries alike.

Their own serpentine Pokémon flicked a bit of seawater at his trainer, as though sensing the beginnings of another anxious spiral and banishing it in its infancy. It was a nice day, the Miltoic seemed to imply, enjoy it.

Or maybe Fee-fee had simply felt like getting them wet.

With a huff, Locke rubbed the salty droplets from his cheek and returned to the task at hand; or at least, taking photos of the task at hand. ”They do,” he finally answered. ”I have change my delivery route to go around them every time they migrate. Never thought I’d end up delivering them instead.

”We had a pod pass through Vermilion on their way to the Sevii islands from Cinnabar,” he continued between clicks of the camera app. ”My grandmother loves them, so Pop-Pop would take her out on his old dinghy every year to watch em.” The memory brought a smile to his face. If there was one silver lining in his family’s abrupt separation, the islands of Alola had a booming Corsola population that Nana could enjoy year-round.

She still appreciated her grandson’s photos of the Hoenn variants though.

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

The door clicked no sooner than he had hit Send, and Locke didn’t need to even look to know who was entering. Instead, he lowered his head to cover it with his phone, as though it could hide him from the other man’s ribbing.

The smell of his remaining stir-fry coaxed him out of hiding, and he soon raised his head to scoop up another bite. ”Wouldja believe I’m only here for the free food?” He tried to joke between mouthfuls of noodles.

Locke, for all his embarrassment, did relax considerably under Angelo’s touch though. They were right to go to him first.

Setting their plate down on the tray again, they leaned back against the pillows with a sigh. For once, they seriously considered the question, taking all of the unprocessed emotions of the past few months and unwrapping them like they were changing the bandages on fresh wounds.

It wasn’t pretty.

”Could definitely be better, to put it lightly. A lot’s happened, and I dunno what to do about any of it.”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Locke led Doro-Doro a little ways from Eris’ flower towards a relatively clear patch of ground, where, after inspecting it some herself, the Mudsdale began striking at the dirt, Rototilling the earth into something suitable for sowing.

“You got one too? Guess they’re not as rare as I was told,” they joked. ”I get what you mean though; I do this sorta thing a lot actually. There was a community garden back in Vermilion my grandmother got me hooked on when I was little, and most of the smaller towns around here have a few dotted around. Keeping my hands busy helps get my mind of things.”

And there was a lot on their mind right now.

And on Eris’ as well, it seemed. Her current was such a stark contrast to the girl he’d delivered eggs with outside Lilycove. Maybe she was always this way, and the Eris he’d met then had just been a mask. He had been.

”Someone you’ve been waiting for…?” He gave his own seed another once-over, and thought about Nana in her old yellow sunhat with the sun-bleached ribbon. About the pair of worn, Roselia-printed gloves they had to take turns wearing and the hole in the left ring finger she kept forgetting to sew closed. Both items now sat somewhere in the seaside townhouse they had to suddenly leave behind.

”Hm…That sounds nice. If that’s the case, maybe the flowers will bring my family here. Or at least to Hoenn.”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

Pa.

It confirmed what he’d assumed down in the crypts. Locke hadn’t noticed anything particularly unwell about Chu-e Choi before, but then, there had been a great number of other things on his mind at the time. And afterwards.

Maybe they’d misread the situation with Merlino though. Or at least the man’s capacity to care for his underlings. But he and Eris’ father had stuck close to each other then, hadn’t they? And Eva Morales had said she’d been taken away by him after she’d been injured in the excursion, and had seemed well enough the next time they bumped into each other.

Locke frowned as they tried to piece together the puzzle that was Cillian Quinn with the few pieces they had.

”Oh. I guess I just assumed since-well since you’re both-”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz

The sensation of passing through the threshold was not unlike dipping his head below water, only with a more molasses-like consistency. All previous conversations and sounds were muffled in this space, and when he looked back where he’d come from, he could only make out the barest outline of Arashi Akiyama behind him. For a brief moment, it seemed as though the room would be nothing but this, until at last he broke through the other with gasping breath and only the lingering unease of the experience.

The interior of the room was just as pitch black as it was from the outside, and he was left inching blindly forward with one hand feeling for any obstacles in his path as he called out for the person he knew to be inside.

”Hello?”

It was hard to tell if the heavy breathing guiding them was louder because they were getting close, or simply a side effect of being deafened on the way in.

”I’m here to hel-Eep!”

Locke’s heart lurched as their foot slipped out from under them. Their hands caught the floor before their head could, soaking in whatever puddle had caught them off-guard. Inspecting them was impossible in the darkness.

They heard the first step while trying in vain to wipe the liquid onto their jeans.

Relief morphed rapidly into fear as the other person-no the thing stumbled towards them. Its entire left arm was gone, as if torn from the socket by some great force, and the imbalance gave it an unhuman gait, less walking and more half-dragging itself forward, and its neck-

Locke pulled themselves backwards with a shout. It was too close now. Surely it would reach them before they could fully push their way through the doorway again. The floor pressed against something in their pocket, causing it to poke into their thigh.

The shard.

They yanked it out, the ripping of fabric telling them that pocket was unlikely to be any use in the future. The metal dug into their flesh as they held it out between themselves and the creature, but any injury it caused would certainly be a better alternative than letting that thing catch them.

”H-HELP!”

[attr="class","wizzcred"]❤ wizz