The forest greeted them like a breath Kael didn't know he'd been holding.
Trees rustled in sunlight. Real birdsong flitted between the branches. The dirt beneath his boots was solid — not memory, not mist, just earth.
They were back.
Somewhere between Fuchsia and Lavender, near a grove Kael didn't recognize but somehow remembered, he stopped walking and turned in a slow circle.
Echo stood beside him, her new form catching light through the canopy. Her fur shimmered like a memory burned into starlight — not glowing constantly, but alive in motion.
"How long were we gone?" he asked.
Echo closed her eyes. "Hard to say. Time doesn't pass the same past Veilpoint."
He pulled out his Pokégear.
Signal returned.
Notifications pinged — timestamps, missed system syncs, League route alerts.
They had been gone three days.
But it felt like months.
They reached a ranger station by dusk, tucked between pine slopes and a shallow stream. It was quiet — too quiet.
Kael knocked on the door.
A man answered. Older, red-vested, cautious.
"You two alright?" the ranger asked.
Kael hesitated. "We've… been off-trail."
The ranger's eyes flicked to Echo, then to the strange glyph-marked ribbon tied loosely around her leg. "You're the ones the League sent alerts about."
He blinked. "What?"
The ranger stepped back and waved him in. "Better come in. You've caused more ripples than you know."
Inside, the station was cramped but warm. A map of Kanto spread across the main table, dotted with glowing pins.
One pin pulsed in red — Cerulean Cave.
Another blinked at Mt. Silver.
And now, a third lit up in real time where Kael stood.
"After the disruption at the cave," the ranger explained, "someone tripped a deep-field psychic alert. The League's been monitoring for unusual frequency spikes since the… incident."
"What incident?"
"The memory bleed," the ranger said. "People forgetting entire days. Some Pokémon forgetting moves mid-battle. Trainers dreaming about people they've never met."
Kael exchanged a glance with Echo.
"You've been busy," the ranger added, not unkindly.
"We were trying to stop it," Kael said quietly.
The ranger nodded slowly. "Whatever you did… something stopped. We've had less interference since yesterday."
But his tone shifted.
"And not everyone's happy you came back."
Kael stiffened. "Why?"
The ranger walked over to a drawer and pulled out a folded flyer. He handed it over.
Kael unfolded it carefully.
It was a League advisory.
UNAUTHORIZED PSYCHIC DISRUPTIONS
POTENTIAL NON-HUMAN ENTITIES TRAVELING WITH TRAINERS
DO NOT APPROACH. REPORT TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
Echo's silhouette was on it.
So was his.
He folded it slowly.
"They think I'm a threat."
"They don't understand what you are," the ranger said. "And fear fills the gap."
Kael exhaled. "I'm not going to stop."
"I didn't say you should."
The ranger handed him a small pouch.
"Supplies. Quiet trail east will lead you back toward Lavender. Keep low."
Kael nodded.
Echo's gaze never left the map.
As they stepped toward the door, the ranger added one last thing:
"There's someone else asking questions about Veilpoint."
Kael turned. "Who?"
"Didn't give a name. But he carries a badge no one's seen in decades. And he's asking very specific things about your father."
They left before sunrise.
The forest shifted around them like old fabric being shaken out. Leaves rustled. Streams ran clear. Echo moved silently, her stride more fluid now — like she belonged to the wild again.
Kael didn't speak for a while.
Then finally: "Do you think he's still out there?"
Echo tilted her head. "Who?"
"The man with the badge."
Echo glanced at him. "Do you want him to be?"
He didn't answer right away.
Then: "If he knew Galen… he might know the truth the monks didn't tell me."
"Or he might be the reason Galen didn't come back," Echo said gently.
He nodded. "Both could be true."
They reached the edge of a wide, open field just before noon. Mountains framed the distance. Lavender lay beyond.
The wind carried the scent of memory, but no weight.
He looked back at the trail they'd just walked.
It hadn't vanished.
But it no longer looked like the way forward.
Echo joined him, brushing lightly against his side.
"So," she said, voice quiet and steady, "where does our story go next?"
Kael smiled — tired, but sure.
"Where stories usually go when they don't end…"
He pointed toward the horizon.
"…deeper."