Landsverd Teardrop Island

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion’s eyes lit up. He’d let Jesse slip his mind, but it would be really useful to have him around. Which was probably why he disappeared. But the guy didn’t seem like a Coven member to him, he’d fallen in love and had a kid with Sierra, which stuck Gladion as not particularly likely to be a Coven-sanctioned activity. (They’d complained about some humans with headstrong partners, hadn’t they? Were they making a veiled jab at Sierra? That was kind of funny, actually.)

“Right, Jesse, yeah.” He nodded. “Would be really nice to have him around right now. Given he was the last human hero summoned, to the best of our knowledge.” Kind of. There was still the Litten, but… Semantics. “And then he and his daughter disappeared before we arrived. Like someone was trying to clear the board. I’d be surprised if he was a part of your organization, given… y’know. Circumstantial evidence. Point being, I’m curious if you’ve got anything about what might’ve happened. Pretty sure that’d lead us towards our problem.”

We should ask Sierra about him and the crisis they dealt with, later…

 

[JFought]

Isidora had finally stopped panting. The rush was over, she proved herself, she won. And yet, she was left feeling... underwhelmed.

What, were you expecting a bird to start grovelling? She absentmindedly started licking her claws. It would've been nice...

She stole a momentary glance at Laura, but it felt too strange to hold it.

Straightening up, Isidora watched Andre eagerly take his place in the Covenant and scoffed. "Right." Can't believe I was worried for him. She was ready to ditch this and wait to leave, but just as she was about to turn away, she remembered she was talking to a Saint. She had to at least try and learn something about them here.

She finally looked up to meet their gaze. "I've only got one thing I'm curious about. Pokémon become Saints through inheritance; how did you become one?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Isidora stole a momentary glance at Laura, but it felt too strange to hold it.

The Radiance and Shadow bled from Laura like fading adrenaline. She met Isidora's eyes, acutely aware of her own expression – wide eyes, ears low – but the Sneasel looked away first. What was the next step? Approach her? Everything in her said give her space, but they weren't strangers to each other. They were on this team together and would be for a while yet. Better that she try to make a connection, surely.

Just, maybe not right now.

“Right, Jesse, yeah. Would be really nice to have him around right now. Given he was the last human hero summoned, to the best of our knowledge. And then he and his daughter disappeared before we arrived. Like someone was trying to clear the board. I’d be surprised if he was a part of your organization, given… y’know. Circumstantial evidence. Point being, I’m curious if you’ve got anything about what might’ve happened. Pretty sure that’d lead us towards our problem.”

Articuno sighed their usual soft whistle of contemplation.

"We would dearly like for Jesse Stranger to join the Covenant, but... he is a singularly independent individual. He has resisted our every attempt to reach out to him. Agents describe him as haggard, paranoid, confrontational. There are signs of... alcoholism. Strange that when he vanished that he did not take his life-mate with him, is it not? I had wondered at one point if he had returned to his home world, for that to be true, but to the best of my knowledge he yet remains on Forlas, unwell as he may be."

The legendary bird brushed their masked brow with a wingtip, gesturing that they were troubled.

Laura swallowed and coughed lightly, her throat still raw from the blizzard.

"And his daughter? ...Luxio Brisa?"

Articuno shook their head gravely.

"An agent of the Covenant was sent to make contact with her, but if he was successful, I'm sure I would have heard a report to that effect by now. I recall that she was identified entering a particularly intractable Mystery Dungeon in eastern Landsverd, but that report was several weeks ago."

Laura's tail thrashed restlessly. "She apparently had some kind of companion with her."

"Not when she was last seen, at least," replied the Saint. "But I expect you'll have opportunity to inquire further in due time. You'll need to travel east to investigate the matter of the ARK Unit – and to confront what remains of Cipher – after all."

"I've only got one thing I'm curious about. Pokémon become Saints through inheritance; how did you become one?"

Articuno folded away their wings, and closed their eyes. For a moment, it looked as if they had fallen asleep, or else become a statue depicting serene meditation.

"In truth, though I am very old, I am not the first of my mantle," they said at last, their voice a little lower than usual. "I studied under my predecessor for many years – in the distant country of Akkairos – learning everything from them that they could teach me. Not only mastery of my powers, mere combat, but etiquette, law, ethics... History, philosophy, mathematics. All things."

The bird's eyes opened, staring at the ghost of a memory.

"She passed before I finished my apprenticeship. Not in a manner she would have chosen. There was a great disaster, a time of upheaval, and I... I claimed her relic, and became what I am. What I am is, so far as I can achieve, as close to her ideal as I have means to be."

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix nodded along to the Wayfarer's questions and listened to Articuno's answers evenly. Though there was interest in learning more about their ascension to Sainthood, she was far more interested in the topic of Jesse and Brisa. She did not know Jesse, so she had no way to know if his reasoning to resist the Covenant's attempts to reach out were reasonable or not but she certainly took mind at the given description.

"Certainly not what one would expect of a hero," Bellatrix observed simply. A sensitive subject it so seemed. "It does make me wonder what it is that his Beacon sees in him. And, disregarding us seeing that we're both well aware that we're outliers, Jesse is the most recent human hero to be summoned, yes?" It was an innocuous question, one designed to see how much Articuno knew of the existence of the most recent case - the litten, if she wasn't mistaken - her tone carefully controlled to indicate curiosity.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"The most recent confirmed hero," amended the bird. "We are treating all ostensible instances of a current-day hero as conjecture, pending proper investigation. Many in the Covenant were prepared to believe that you were the modern heroes, collectively."

Articuno nodded gravely, and sighed – though the sigh seemed more concerned with fatigue and injury (to themself and to the Wayfarers) than with Jesse, judging by the careful way they moved their wings, and a lingering look at the least-recovered combatants.

"But we digress – indeed, Jesse Stranger is not the paragon he may once have been. His performance in the Entropic Crisis was admirable. That was the task for which he was chosen, and that is the task he completed, to much acclaim. After that, however... I imagine his life became much more complicated. Domestic, political, financial. No pokémon can be a dashing, daring hero forever, solving their problems with youthful charisma and the deft application of force. Jesse Stranger the hero was a brave young man, fighting a clear and present danger. Jesse Stranger the sheriff of Frontier Town was a middle-aged homeowner enduring a gradual separation with his wife, and various incidents concerning his daughter."

The bird somehow pursed their beak, or something close to such an expression.

"Very few 'mon are the same person as they were in their prime, after two decades or more."

Articuno shook their head, and gestured to the cluster of buildings nearby.

"But we are all of us weary, and the weather shall not improve. Please, allow me to invite you to Teardrop Station campus, to rest a moment before I transport you all home."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion stifled a laugh. “Honestly, that sounds pretty good as far as it could’ve gone, with someone that powerful. Worst thing’s some divorce drama and his kid? Could’ve ended up corrupt.”

Were those buildings empty? He didn’t want anyone to see him here. “Speaking of corruption, nobody’s gonna see me in those buildings, right? Given the reason we’re here, I don’t want to be seen by anyone who might be involved.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Articuno's face hinted very subtly at disdain at that word, 'corruption'.

"He could have taken much, much worse paths," agreed the bird. Then their eyes narrowed. "If you do not wish to be seen at all, I suppose you'll need to wait outside, Gladion. I apologise, but at least you can take on Ice- or Fire-typing for your relative comfort. Of course, while Covenant channels are already aware of two Graydians present in Sojaveña, I can vouch for my own staff and I give you my word that they will not report your particulars to any malign faction, should it exist."

Precisely-worded as always, but sincere.

"Whatever you decide, I will have you all back home shortly. If you would?"

The legendary gestured with a wing, and led the way to Teardrop Station...

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