Ayumu encounters himself surrounded by complete darkness. "A dream huh... What was I doing before falling asleep?", he asks himself while waiting for something to happen, and soon enough, a hand appears before him, causing a strange sense of temptation inside him. "Any requests have to be made face-to-face.", he says, not really expecting anyone to hear. He ponders for a few seconds if he should take that hand, but then "since this is a dream, I guess I can make an exception...", he proceeds to grab it, which promptly pulled him up.
His new location is now the margin of a lake of mud, seemingly in the bottom of a cave, with many paths leading to it, or in this case, out of; inwards, in the middle of the lake, there's a small island, where stands a single tree, near that tree stands a table, with two chairs around it and a tea set on top, all quite fancy, and certainly out of place, but perhaps what was most out of place was the elegant looking men sitting on one of the chairs, his white vests, white hair and piercing green eyes immediately made Ayumu associate him with an angel, not the image one would expect to see in such dark and almost claustrophobic place.
>"Welcome. Thank you, otherworlder, for accepting this brief summoning." the angel looking man says with a cold, yet soft voice, but with a hint of sorrow.
"I was pondering if I should have accepted, really... So that's the face that hand-" Ayumu pauses for a second, with the thought "this man is not normal." invading his mind "...belongs to."
>"And why is that- actually, please, take a minute to step out of the mud. I sincerely apologize for this. However, it should come right off."
Ayumu was so focused on his environment and the man sitting a few meters away that he totally forgot he was still standing on the mud lake and covered in mud as well.
"Oh..." Ayumu walks out of the mud as easily as if it was water, out, he does a "the sims spinning jump" to get rid of the mud covering him, which in truth to the man's words, comes off right away, splashing in every direction to varying distances.
As he starts walking towards the man, the mud goes the opposite direction, back to the lake. After pausing to watch the scene, Ayumu finally reaches the table in the middle and sits on the vacant chair as the man gestured to it.
>"Thank you again, for accepting this brief invitation."
"No need to thank me, much less twice."
>"For now, you may think of this as a dream."
("This is a dream.")
>"I will be asking you some questions. Why? It is simply my role to ask. For your benefit. Now, let's begin."
>"State your name and occupation."
"Isn't it courtesy when asking someone's name, to give your own first?"
>"You're quite right, my name is Raphael Cervantes, now if I may hear yours?"
("'Raphael', huh... The same name of the angel, so maybe he actually is an angel.")
"Kuromiya Ayumu. As per occupation, I'm a teacher, a chef, a nurse, a 'Yorozuya', but most of the time, I'm simply a nomad, which is to say, a have no occupation at all."
Raphael doesn't let it show, but he found the answer quite amusing.
>"A moment ago, you mentioned your hesitancy to come, why was that?"
"I simply find it hard to accept the hand -or anything, really- of someone whose face I can't even see."
>"Where do you call home? What is 'home' to you?"
"What indeed. I never thought about the concept of 'home', so for now, as cheesy as it may sound, I'll just say that as long as I'm with my Pokémon, anywhere is home."
>"How close are you to your family? What does that word mean to you?"
"Close enough. In the past 13 years we only talked a handful of times through the phone, but they care about me, and I care about them, and for us, that's close enough. Now the meaning of 'family', huh? To me, family is a connection, a bond, but not a blood one, a strong enough bond of friendship can evolve into a familial one. As long as you can trust, depend and be comfortable with one another, you can consider that family, that's what I believe."
>"From your standpoint, what are your strengths and weaknesses? As a trainer, or as a person."
"The true question is: Am I really a trainer? After all, all my Pokémon battle by themselves. Sure, I gave some guidance, and hope that guidance will protect them long after I'm gone, but you can hardly call me a trainer in the traditional sense."
>"What about as a person then?"
"Hm... My lack of interest in humans. I know full well that building many lasting relationships can "only" be beneficial, yet, outside of chance encounters, I can't bring myself to even try."
>"That's the weakness, what about the strength?"
"Can say I have any." Ayumu said flat out, to which Raphael's expression became ever so slightly saddened, as he could see that the man in front of him really believed that.
>"Care for a cup of tea?"
"Sure."
Raphael fills a cup of the tea set and places it in front of Ayumu, who thanks him and promptly gets the cup, bring it to his lips, but instead of drinking, he pauses for a few seconds, lowers the cup half the way back to the table, looks back at the host and says:
"This is a Sinistea."
>"Eh?"
Before the angel looking man could question anything, Ayumu let go of the cup, which started floating right before hitting the table. A face appeared on the cup with a big smile and the liquid inside started overflowing and making funny shapes. Raphael's reaction was to reach for the tea pot to confirm it was normal tea, however, as he was about to reach it, a Polteageist came out, flying away with the pot and proceeding to dance in the air with the Sinistea.
The white haired man, watching the scene unfold couldn't help but smile a little, and not a moment after, Ayumu claps his hands as he speaks "ok you guys, we need to continue the talk now, so please be still for a while." The two Pokémon nod and go back to their original position, as if nothing had ever happened.
"You good to continue now?" Ayumu asked.
Raphael was quite surprised by that question. He was aware of his own change of expression, but he was confident it was unnoticeable, yet his guest not only picked up on it, but even put up a silly show to cheer him up a little.
>"Thank you, let's proceed."
"I didn't do anything, but let's."
>"Have you ever been in love? What happened?"
"Not in a romantic sense, no. I love my Pokémon, my parents and some of the chance encounters I had, but no one ever made me want to seek anything past friendship."
>"In your opinion, what is the most evil thing any human being could do?"
"Betrayal. Humans have unlimited potential for evil, but the one that sets me off the most of when someone betrays the trust place upon them."
>"That will be all, thank you."
"Will it now?"
>"Excuse me?"
"No, I just feel like there's more you want to say."
>"Very well then, allow me to explain the situation: I summoned you here, in exchange for something you desired. You will wake up, and find whatever object you sought in the palm of your hand. That, I shall guarantee."
"That so."
>"Now, to further explain, I'll need to tell you a tale about this very place you find yourself in."
"Go on."
>"This is Caliz, the very heart of Furia. We currently sit in the lowest depths in the entire region. This specific location, surrounded in black mud and bereft of life, is a grave. A grave for three."
>"You see, there were once five children. They all belonged to the same village, but were of different families. One of them was a little girl, daughter of village chief. She was kind and accepting of others, yet she was also very naïve."
>"There was also a god. Long ago, it is said that this god had created Furia. It parted the seas, brought forth the land, sparked the embers of new life and called for the wind to spread it all across our homeland. It is then that the little girl's village was founded."
>"Yet the god had tired from the act of creation, and thus fell to slumber. It entrusted to the village chief a sacred treasure in it's own likeness. That treasure was said to be able to reawaken the god and restore it's power. And yet it is said that the god would never awaken again."
>"Five children descended here, to the god's resting place. The four other children had convinced the little girl to take the treasure in secret, hoping to reawaken their deity. Children are innocent, after all."
>"Too much so."
At this point, Ayumu's expression changed, it's barely different, but a rare sight of anger now adorning his face, as if he knew how the tale would end.
>"After all, it was not their plan to start with. Children are so very easy to deceive, especially by their own scheming parents.
Five children descended with the treasure, and four were thrown out. The little girl clutched onto the treasure so tightly, yet she had already been caught in the trap. She held and held and held even as the adults tried to tear it away."
>"In the scuffle, the treasure shattered into four. From the god's sleeping form split off the waters, the land, the flames and the wind. The destruction wrought forth that day still scars the land even now, and the memory of the tragedy are buried deep within the heart of all Furians."
>"That little girl never made it out. In the cataclysm, she had been buried here alone. She cursed the world and its people with all her heart as she died. She cursed the children who deceived her. She cursed the adults who stole from her. But more than anything, the little girl cursed herself."
". . ."
"That's why I don't like humans, when it counts the most, they are no different from the Fae."
>"The 'Fae'?"
"What?"
>"That's what you said, "they are no different from the Fae."
"No. What I said was that "humans are horrible."
Raphael decides not to push further.
"Either way, that was quite the hateful tale."
>"Yeah... I remember an old friend saying something similar to me once before."
There was a moment of silence. Not a single sound in the heavy atmosphere around the two men, anger from one side and sorrow and frustration from the other. But finally, Raphael continued.
>"Twenty years ago, I had compiled this story together with her. We spent a long time gathering information, examining local stories, and filling in the blanks through speculation."
>"..."
>"How brutal the passing of time can be."
>"What does Furia look like to you, as an outsider?"
"Despite the tragic history, I still think this land, or what I have seen of it is beautiful on its own way, not unlike any of the Regions I visited before."
>"To me, it is a collection of mistakes. Sins that have long since piled up so high that they blot out the sun. A history so drenched in blood and filth that it must be written anew. My old friend spent her life attempting to cleanse this place, bit by bit. She was a saint beyond all measure. Stronger than any other! And yet!"
"..."
>"And yet. Even she met her end here in this accursed place. I'm sure that even in her final moments she looked towards the future. I can't accept it. I refuse to accept it."
Raphael was now the one falling short at containing his rage. Which weirdly enough, made Ayumu's subside, as he felt the man's rage strangely reassuring.
>"Enough. I tire of this farce and you have already served your purpose. Now, there is one final duty for you to perform."
"..."
>"Four years ago, two of the strongest trainers in this region fought here. During the battle, it seems that the beast sealed below began to awaken. It is that curse, the wretched corpse of a dead god, that took Arete from this world."
>"I intend to correct that mistake. Starting with you, otherworlder. The beast, through its mud, seeks a new form. Through its mud, it has already crawled through your memories and found a more fitting shape. Turn around. I'm sure you're more familiar with that creature than I."
From that moment, Ayumu turns around, and is met with the entire lake moving, concentrating in a single point, increasing its density, in order to take its intended shape. As soon as Ayumu realized what form it was attempting to take, his eyes widened like never before, seeing the creature he had only seen through video footage up to that point. Every cell on his body was telling him that whatever was in front of him, it was *not* Giratina, and he himself knew that all too well, and yet, he couldn't help but to start walking towards it... He stops one step shy of being able to touch it, and instead, raises his left hand towards it, as if offering something. The mud creature trying its best to maintain its form, slowly approaches Ayumu's hand, will it accept his request for contact? Will it attack him? But before the answer could come to light, when it was about to touch his hand with its face, Ayumu suddenly sees himself back to his own world, with his left hand extended towards the sky as he lays atop Mori.
"Way to ruin the moment... tho I guess I was doing something considerably dangerous..." he says as he realizes he's lying atop Mori "at least this mystery is solved, I was just walking around. As usual."
As he retracts his hand, he realizes he's holding a black orb, upon closer inspection, it appears as if there's a tempest inside, black clouds (and some hints of purple clouds, purple so dark it's almost indistinguishable from the blackness around) swirling around each other.
"Great. Another object I have no idea what is... Was this what I desired?" as he asks himself, he decides to look at his right hand for no particular reason, and there's a copy of the new limited edition Dark Miku album. "Now that's more like it. I wonder if Raphael has any idea of what he just gave me."
". . ." Ayumu looks up to the bright blue sky. "Raphael, huh... I guess this gift is proof that you exist. So I hope you'll manage to bring peace back to Furia, and be free from the burdens that weight you down."
". . ."
"But really, the heck is this orb then?"