At dawn, Sato woke up early. His Pokémon's m training sessions were never celed unless something urgent came up.

  The night before, Larvitar had beely released to feast on solid bck stones before quietly returning to its Poké Ball to sleep.

  Being a species that naturally undergoes a pupa-like state, Larvitar was highly adaptable to long periods of dormancy, so Sato wasn't ed about it staying is Poké Ball for extended periods.

  After about half an hour, Wester finally emerged from his portable tent-house.

  Seeing Sato already training his Pokémon, he wisely chose not to disturb him and instead released three of his own Pokémon to begin his own m training.

  By 8:30, their m routine was plete.

  After pag up their supplies, Sato kept Zorua and Haunter by his side, while Wester only had Houndoom follow him. Feraligatr and Skarmory were not suited for traveling on foot.

  As they approached the ruins, crumbling walls and broken pilrs came into view.

  Unlike most wild areas, there were no trees in the Ruins of Alph, only stubborn tufts of grass growing through the cracks ione.

  Before ing here, Sato had revisited his memories of the Ruins of Alph and was now paring them to what he saw firsthand.

  The Ruins of Alph were eerily silent, with almost no human visitors. Normally, such a location would attract wild Pokémon like Sandshrew, Raticate, and Mankey.

  Yet strangely, not a single Pokémon could be seen.

  However, there was oype of Pokémon that had been recorded appearing here multiple times—Unown.

  sidered even more mysterious than Legendary Pokémon, Unown were said t fortuo those who entered them.

  Sato didn't believe that for a sed.

  Because in his past life, when he came to the Ruins of Alph, he didn't enter Unown—he entered something far more terrifying.

  The Ruins remained pletely silent, aside from the sounds of their footsteps. Following his past knowledge, Sato navigated through the ruins until he arrived at a peculiar site.

  A weathered stone wall stood before them, covered in a Pokémon inscriptions. Sato couldn't read them, nor did he o.

  At first ghe engraved characters appeared random, but upon closer iion, there was an unnatural symmetry—the entire wall erfectly mirrored along a vertical line down the ter.

  Trag his index finger along the ter line, Sato slid his hand downward.

  At first, nothing ged.

  But then…

  "Haunter, Mean Look."

  "Kehehe!"

  Haunter rose from the ground, and in an instant, a deep purple aura engulfed the surroundings.

  Suddenly, tless dark eyes opened within the shadows, revealing everything that lurked unseen.

  "Yiiip!"

  A distressed cry suddenly rang out.

  From behind a colpsed pilr, a deep blue, ghostly figure drifted into view—A Shuppet.

  "Yiiiip! Yiiiip!"

  This time, Shuppet's cry was filled with rage.

  Its body radiated an ominlow, and even the inscriptions oone wall behind it began to glow crimson!

  "Wester, it's all yours," Sato said, stepping back. "This Shuppet is far strohan most you'd find in the wild."

  Having fulfilled his promise, he left the capture to Wester.

  "Leave it to me!" Wester grinned. "Houndoom, Fmethrower!"

  "Woof!"

  A seari of fmes erupted from Houndoom's maw, rushing toward Shuppet!

  However, before the fmes could eve close, Shuppet's red aura fred violently, pletely repelling the attack.

  The fmes scattered, uo even graze it.

  "Yiiiip!"

  Shuppet let out a chilling cry, as if questioning their presence.

  At the same time, a massive shadow loomed behind it, expanding rapidly until it bhe etlefield.

  The shadow swallowed both Houndoom aer whole.

  Sato stood still, watg calmly. It was not his battle—he would not interfere.

  "Awoo!"

  A howl suddenly pierced through the darkness. Houndoom ripped through the shadowy abyss, its fur bristling as it emerged from the attack.

  Wester staggered backward, his face pale. That Night Shade was terrifying.

  He ched his cold, sweaty hands and noticed Houndoom was trembling as well.

  Night Shade was a unique move—the higher the Pokémon's level, the greater the fixed damage inflicted upon its oppo.

  A wild Shuppet that had yet to evolve should have had its limits, yet for a brief moment, Wester felt as if he were about to be pletely devoured by darkness.

  Fortunately, at the critical moment, Houndoom's Howl greatly boosted its fighting spirit, allowing it to barely break free from Night Shade's overwhelming grip.

  Gng at the a inscriptions glowing red around them, Wester specuted that Shuppet's power had been amplified by these very markings.

  "Houndoom, turn this pto a hellscape!"

  "Woof!"

  Houndoom smmed its forepaws onto the ground, summoning a massive sphere of crimson fire.

  With a suddeion, the fmes burst apart, transf into s of fire that surged outward, crawling toward the crumbling walls.

  "Yiiip!"

  Shuppet let out a panicked cry as the red glow around its body dimmed drastically—its strength instantly fell back to the Elite level.

  "Close in—Fire Fang!"

  With an explosive burst of speed, Houndoom lu Shuppet, its fangs engulfed ihe attaded ly.

  "Go, Ultra Ball!"

  Wester seized the moment, ung a bd-yellow Poké Ball directly at Shuppet.

  The Ultra Ball hit its mark. Landing on the a stone floor, it began to tremble violently, its red light blinking furiously.

  Wester ched his fists, eyes locked onto the ball. Even Sato, arms crossed, found himself holding his breath.

  Ding!

  "It's caught!" Wester excimed, pig up the Ultra Ball and raising it triumphantly toward Sato.

  "Check its potential."

  "Let's heal it first—it took quite a bit of damage," Wester said as he prepared to release Shuppet.

  "Wait. Let's move further away first."

  Sato didn't stop walking until they were far beyond the Ruins of Alph—only then did he nod for Wester to proceed.

  "Yiiip…?"

  The newly captured Shuppet emerged, its body still marred by a severe bite wound and burn marks. Wester unceremoniously applied a high-quality healing spray, and soon, Shuppet's energy returned.

  "Yiiip! Yiiip!"

  Yet, rather than aowledge its rainers, Shuppet floated anxiously, gng around in every dire, searg…

  "It's…"

  "It's looking for home," Sato interrupted, his tone heavy with meaning.

  "Yiiip…"

  Shuppet slowly drifted downward, settling onto the grass-covered ruins. Its tiny form, for the first time, seemed utterly lost and alone.

  "Sato," Wester suddenly turo him, his expression unusually serious.

  "You know something, don't you?"

  "Yeah."

  Sato stepped closer, sitting beside Shuppet, as if carefully choosing his words.

  "Not knowing how to return home… it's painful, isn't it?"

  "Yiiip?"

  Shuppet tilted its head, looking at Sato in fusion, but a faint glimmer of emotion flickered in its ghostly eyes.

  "They say," Sato tinued, "that Shuppet is a Pokémon born from the intense rese of a spirit that died with unfinished regrets."

  Wester sat beside them, listening in silence.

  "And if that spirit was an abandoned Unown…"

  "That must have been unbearably painful."

  "Yiiip!"