Ripples within the mirror [Karin]

[Seria Floria]

"Did you know about this place?" Seria looked up and seemed to be talking to herself, but actually she had seen that blonde girl again. Yeah, someone had better get her help at some point. Was it really real? In any case, she couldn't see her anymore and somehow found herself here at the end of a heavily forested path locals told her was named the Sunshower Path. It was, fortunately, not raining today, though it was incredibly bright out - no wonder it was called the Sunshower Path. Seria was warned about the strange bipolar tendency of the weather conditions here so she brought an umbrella with her just in-case, she had bought one prior to this trip. As to how she learned about it, she had found a book at a booksale talking about various hotspots in Aina. When she was asking around at Hapuu Town, where she made a pit-stop (her father's friend was very good at giving directions) she had learned that this Sacred Pools was rumoured to have been a pitstop for extremely rare and powerful Pokemon.



So were legendaries said to have rested here at some point? Seria didn't see anyone or any Pokemon here either, just an expanse of pools joined by miniature waterfalls. "This place looks amazing. I can see why such rumours were being made," Seria muttered to herself as she tried to find solid footing, walking around and wondering if anybody else had seen this place. She found herself looking straight into one of the pools and saw a perfect, crystal-clear reflection of herself. She spent the next few minutes looking straight at it. She probably wouldn't even notice if someone had come up and stood beside her even with another reflection being created.

[Karin Norling]

[Music: Fogbound Lake Remix]

Karin was vaguely aware that she was going about this journey in a pretty backwards fashion. She'd started right in the middle of dense wilderness rather than in the large city where she landed, and instead of heading back she'd decided to wander south. But that was fine. It wasn't like an adventure like this had a set path or rules to follow or anything. Besides, rather than going back to Lani City, she was more interested in the landmark that marked the 'end' of most of the tours that came out this way. Most of the way down the forested Sunshower Path and down from the last bridge on the route, were a series of connected pools known as the Sacred Pools. There was something unusual about them, her guidebook has said. Something almost mystical. Aside from the fact that fossils could be revived in the waters here, already something to marvel at, the pools were rumored to occasionally be visited by legends.

Karin had to admit the pools seemed more like another hidden gem than a legendary pit stop. Quite beautiful. Looked good to swim in. Not a lot of Pokemon around, despite still being surrounded by rainforest. But they still drew Karin's attention, much like Lake Acuity back home had. And, well, the strange blonde girl standing by the water's edge probably helped too. She did seem to be the only other one around at the moment.

Karin wandered up, standing right next to her and looking down into the water as well. Surprisingly, the girl didn't respond, even to Karin's reflection. So, as though the girl had already noticed her, Karin casually turned to her and said "Hi there."

[Seria Floria]

Seria continued to stare and she didn't even completely notice that there was another person who had also found this place. The reflection was there and it was only a few moments after the other girl had greeted her did Seria realize someone was standing nearby. "Oh, hello, I'm sorry. I didn't notice you there. I was lost in my thoughts," Seria simply answered, turning to face the girl who had just arrived. Actually, had she just arrived? How long was she here? "Are you here to look for something, too? I was looking for things that could point me to sighting of a Legendary POkemon," Seria said, explaining herself even though she didn't even know if the other girl was interested or not. For all Seria knew, she could have just been here going sight-seeing. After all, these Scared Pools did look very beautiful. No one had told her that this could double as some personal place for relaxation. Curiously, wild Pokemon did not really seem to populate this place.

Unlike the other girl, though, Seria did not have any guidebooks or anything. All she knew was from asking around and reading stuff or asking her father's friend, who ended up being a valuable resource and could just at this point end up being the explanation for most of her escapades.

[Karin Norling]

"Here I thought you might have been lost in the water's surface," Karin answered, not particularly seriously. Even when Karin had suddenly greeted her, she had taken a moment to realize that she was there. Wherever she was, that was pretty lost. Then the girl asked if she was looking for something, and mentioned looking for legendary Pokemon. Well, that was certainly one reason to come here, and it was similar to the one that had drawn Karin to these pools. Perhaps it was an odd one to ask someone she had just met, but Karin didn't particularly mind. She had plenty of odd to spare herself, so what did it matter if someone else did as well?

"Mm, something like that," Karin answered. "I have heard the rumors. I'm not sure if I believe them, but it would be nice of something like that was true. People said the same thing about Lake Acuity, but I never saw anything back there." She was rambling a bit, but maybe the girl wouldn't notice.

[Seria Floria]

Seria blushed faintly as she realized she must have looked like a nutter standing there. "Sorry for not noticing you sooner, I guess I really was lost," she admitted, fidgeting demurely and looking down sheepishly at the ground. Then she perked up again when the girl stated her reasons for coming here were quite similar, mentioning she too heard the rumours and said that while she wasn't sure if she believed them she thought it would "be nice" if they were true. She then went on to talk about Lake Acuity and how she never saw anything back there. Being from Sinnoh herself, Seria blinked and soon remembered about a diary containing informations on Legendary Pokemon her parents had given to her before her trip here. "Ah, so are you from Sinnoh, too? Oh, and where are my manners? It's nice to meet you, my name is Seria Floria. I... uh, helped my parents research on Legendary Pokemon and go with them when they attempt to go on explorations," she clarified.

"I'm interested in hearing about your trip to Lake Acuity."

[Karin Norling]

Karin nodded. "I am indeed," she answered. Nice to meet you, Seria. That's really neat, actually. I've dabbled a bit in that, but haven't gotten very far. I'm Karin Norling, from the lovely Snowpoint City. I uhh...mostly just started out looking for ghosts on the road out of town, and that somehow eventually led to me traveling around and looking for amazing places and things." She shrugged. It sounded a bit underwhelming when she put it like that, but she didn't care. It was amazing enough to her. After all, she was the one who experienced it.

Surprisingly, Seria asked about her trip to Lake Acuity. Well, not entirely surprisingly. If she and her family were researching legends, then she would have to know about the mirage Pokemon. The trip just wasn't as interesting without actually seeing anything, though. "Really? Well, I live right near there, so of course I heard the stories most of my life. So eventually when I was able to leave town on my own I tried going there. It's...something of a hidden gem, like this place. Really hard to get to, you or your Pokemon need to be able to rock climb to reach it, but it's a real sight to behold if you can."

[Seria Floria]

The girl introduced herself as Karin Norling. Seria smiled and listened to her explain that she was curious about ghosts, which she must probably have thought she seen since it somehow led to her traveling around and looking for other amazing places and things. Seria wasn't too sure about that whole arrangement yet she believed Karin's words and nodded. "I see, that must have been an eye-opener. I guess." Seria said simply, and eventually she explained that she lived near Lake Acuity being from Snowpoint (which to be fair Seria did not know until Karin introduced herself) so she tried to go there on her own from hearing stories and legends about it. "Mmm, I know it's a beautiful place. My parents took me to all of the Lakes because they wanted to study the Mirage Pokemon in more detail. They explained how they represented some good personality thingies, but I didn't really get it at the time," Seria said, recalling how her parents had referred to them as 'virtues.'

"I come from Eterna City myself, so my parents showed me the statues of the Pokemon of Time and Space, they seemed quite godly to me, though I suppose that's a title reserved for the... uh, the 'Alpha and Omega,' as my mother called it..."

[Karin Norling]

"Knowledge, emotion, and willpower," Karin filled in after Seria stalled a bit on 'good personality thingies.' Karin wasn't particularly well-studied on the myths and legends of Sinnoh -- at least, not as well as Seria or her parents probably were -- but she knew the basics and then some. There was a mirage Pokemon dwelling at each of Sinnoh's lakes, and they all represented aspects of the spirit. And if any harm came to them, bad things would happen to the person who caused it. Which, she had to admit, was a nice change from all the happy, fluffy stories people usually told.

Then, Seria mentioned her own hometown of Eterna City and the statues that were its claim to fame. "Seems like anything that could control time and space would be quite godly. I suspect your mother was referring to the Original One though, which supposedly created both of them." Now that she thought about it...time and space, could that have anything to do with the strange cave she found during her travels? The one where the chambers didn't seem to follow any specific layout?

Hmm...maybe when she got back to Sinnoh, she'd have to look into it more.

[Seria Floria]

Seria nodded as Karin recounted the three virtues that the three Pokemon represented. As pixies who were said to have given or taught humans these things long ago, Seria had always considered the trio somewhat of a miracle of life. That is, if they were really a thing. "Yeah. Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. When these Pokemon flew through the sky, people learned... things. These things that gave people the way to make living easier and better, that gave people emotions and feelings, like being happy to live, or being sad about losing something. And of course, when people became determined to do... things." She nodded to herself, smiling solemnly. When she had talked about her hometown, Karin said that her mother was referring to the Original One. Seria knew its name, but was told never to utter it out of respect.

"Yeah. I suppose that was the one. I was told never to utter the name, out of respect. Regardless, I'm here mostly to learn how to do things on my own so I can help my parents better." Seria said simply. "It's very nice to see someone around with a similar interest as me."

[Karin Norling]

"Well, that's certainly an explanation," Karin remarked, laughing a little at the way Seria used '...things.' Sure, she probably couldn't do much better, not without reading over the myths again at least. But this was still shaping up to be an odd conversation. Enjoyable, absolutely. But even so, a conversation about Sinnoh mythology by two people who had just met and who only really understood the surface of it could only be considered odd.

"Mm, well, I've done the journey-ing thing before back in Sinnoh, before I came here. So if you ever need help with anything, I can probably give you some advice. Just so long as that advice didn't include 'how to beat the Pokemon League' or really, any advice on being a better trainer beyond the basics. Karin was decent, but no expert. No boring advice, either. Karin didn't do boring. "And likewise, I'm always happy to not be 'the weird one' for my interests. Not that I really minded after awhile, but like minds are nice too."

[Seria Floria]

Seria yawned and stretched in place as she looked for a stump to sit on. Fortunately it looked like this interaction was taking a turn for the better. Karin recounted that she had been doing something similar before back in Sinnoh before she came here too. "Then, I'll be looking to talk to you often," Seria said, smiling and looking up at the other girl. "Whether it be for some help on something or if you heard of anything interesting." Seria fidgeted with her hands and looked now on to the series of crystal-clear pools. Karin also seemed to be pretty alright with this situation after all, then!

"I'm... uh, actually not great at battling. I just started, so..." Seria blurted out randomly, just fidgeting, though she looked a bit embarrassed about the whole admission. "Some pointers would be nice."