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Laguna blinked as her vision slowly faded in. The world loading around her, the first thing she noticed was the firm ground beneath her feet did not exist. She had become so accustomed to standing and walking and running in VR that suddenly finding herself sitting down caused her a minor state of panic. A completely irrational fear of her legs not working in this virtual world overtaking her.

Almost on instinct, she leaped to her feet before she even realized where she was. The carriage cared not for her confusion, however. Not only did she immediately slam her head into the roof of the closed carriage, but the continued motion forwards by the horses pulling the carriage swept her off her feet. Tumbling, she ended up half-upside down on her own seat and half on the floor.

She groaned in pain, clutching her head, finally noticing someone across the carriage from her. Almost immediately, her cheeks began to turn a soft pink. Now, this was absolutely embarrassing, and she had no explanation for this one. None that she would admit to, anyway. "Uh, whoops?"

Finally, Laguna would take a moment to actually look around. She was in a carriage, presumably for the new expansion. The cowboy hat Professor Ash had given her finally made sense. She had to take a few moments to actually collect herself, properly sitting back down into her seat. "Hey, uh, sorry if I scared you. I got- uh, confused why I wasn't where I used to be. Yeah. I guess Beta Island really is just, gone for now, huh? I'm Laguna."

Of course, her eyes would gradually drift over to the blue egg. How curious, had he recently visited the Rookery?

"Optional?" She tilted her head, incredibly confused. Did she miss something along the way? She totally wouldn't put it past her to miss something obvious like that. Still, the idea of a golden Pokeball did sound quite appealing.

As Big Bee mentioned the area, she herself turned around to get a close look at it all. It felt so real. Considering she hadn't really left the city in years if she looked normal and nobody told her this was a game, she'd completely believe it was real. The insane power of video games these days.

"Ooh, I love the swimming too! I'll admit, I used to be on my track team in high school! It's, err, been a while though! Like, 5 years since I graduated, you know?" The brief thought of her senior year getting cut short by the accident definitely popped into her head, but she intentionally ignored it for now.

Sure enough, as she looked out across the ocean of grass something suddenly disturbed the grass. It shifted about as if something was traveling towards them. Laguna clutched at the Pokeball on her hip, sending out her own starter pokemon. The Popplio swam around her in the air, benefitting from her Swimmer class abilities.

Sure enough, a Patrat popped out of the underbrush, teeth bared and clearly ready to attack. "Oh man, consider me unsurprised it's a rodent! Everyone's first encounter, huh?" She'd laugh with a grin spreading across her face, pointing out towards the Patrat. "Marina! Aqua Jet!" The Popplio let out a battle cry, building up water all around them as they slammed forwards with incredible speed. The two pokemon flew backward, straight into the underbrush, and immediately gone from sight.

"Oh, uh, oops. No wonder they say tall grass is dangerous. Especially with little pokemon."

"On the topic of Everworld,

Somehow, I knew how to get to the Everworld without explanation. Teleportation, of some kind. Though I do not believe I could repeat such a feat, unless another one of my Pokémon perishes, a feat I do not intend to do willingly. Perhaps there is another way, it is simply unknown to me.

I found an endless hall before me, large red traditional gates, and pillars of glowing light seemed to hang from the ceiling. Although, I saw no ceiling in sight. Gold-robed statues lined this hall, and those that were whole seemed to wear masks of Pokémon. I presume these to be Pokémon who had lost their lives recently.

Meowth, Dustox, Sobble, Popplio, Bergmite, Dewott, and Shinx.

I have vivid memories of looking over these statues and being quite upset over Glacia's apparent death.

Shortly after my appearance, a gray cloaked figure appeared before me. Their body seemed to be amorphous, with no set shape. It didn't walk, more accurately hovered as it approached me. Near its presence, all color seemed to fade. Like the ink ran out while using a color printer slowly. Everything was grey, asides from the golden mask they wore that became more apparent as it approached.

Their words, unlike mine before, are burned into my mind. I could not forget their statements if I tried. I know not how they spoke, they simply did. I've gone over his statements over and over again in the text, and I do believe they are mostly accurate. I fear I might not ever forget them, actually. Panicked as I was with Glacia's death, their words, and what followed, might never be forgotten."

"You seek a phantom. A visage that wanders my endless halls. There is a price to reverse what had been done. You will be tested."

Somehow, as seems to be the case with these mysterious things, I instinctively know his name is Seta, as it continues to speak to me.

"Unless you wish to abandon the spirit? After all, there is always room in my palace. And perhaps, another, more fitting, trainer will come to claim them."

It is to my understanding, that dead Pokémon can be reclaimed by anyone, who chooses not to rescue them. To banish them. I am unsure how one would go about rescuing these banished Pokémon when access to it seems dependent on having your own to rescue.

Again, the being spoke. His words were still impossible to forget.

"So you wish to bring a spirit back with you? Answer me truthfully: What makes you think your ghost wishes to return after what happened? What will be different this time? Nothing returns from this realm unchanged. You too must change, if you are to win back the lost."

I responded to the being, but I regretfully do not recall all my words. I was again in adrenaline, and fear that Glacia might be banished for good. I remember calling her a hero, that she sacrificed herself for her home. That such a kind soul does not deserve to be doomed before their time. I explicitly remember saying she was cuddly, and likely wanted to cuddle again. I believe she cuddled upon my lap, during our interview earlier.

Most importantly, I asked how I must change to win her back. I was determined. Glacia, of all my Pokémon, has impacted me the most on my journey.

"You speak from the heart, but I can not give you the answers. I can only ask the right questions."

From there, I was led to some kind of hole in the wall. It appeared like some kind of shadow covered the other side, appearing akin to a doorway.

"Through here. You answered well, and now you have your chance. Nothing is freely given, especially life."

From there, I entered the shadowed doorway and ended up somewhere else entirely. I theorize that everyone who speaks to this Seta will encounter a trial unique to them. For me, I encountered something rather specific. I found myself in a foggy area, attempting to stand on what I can only presume to be frozen clouds.

The air was thin, so I was very up high, and it was hard to breathe. Glacia's cries were heard from somewhere and growing more distant as time passed, and the challenge became apparent. I had to jump from frozen platform to platform, whilst struggling to see said platforms. Given the frozen nature of each, not only was traction difficult, but they were sharp and uneven. I had to leap from platform to platform, some to even platforms that were too high to jump to, and required me to pull myself up by my hands, on sharp, yet slippery ice.

I remember a lot of jumps to spiraling platforms and a lot of injuries. My legs were bruised and bloodied, and so were my hands. At one point, I even mistimed a jump due to the slippery platforms and slammed my face into one, falling down a few feet, but not before likely breaking my nose upon the side of the platform. My body refused to move for a time.

Adrenaline, however, is a miracle drug. The fear within me of losing Glacia for good was too much. Somehow, and I don't know if I'll ever have this much strength again, I pushed through. I just simply jumped without thinking, the memory of the pain is still so real, and yet numb at the same time.

At the end, I ended up spiraling up into above the clouds. The air was impossibly thin, but I managed to jump off the platform and grab Glacia, who had apparently been floating further and further away with every passing second, despite her desperate attempts to get to me.

It was only afterwards, that I heard Seta's voice once again, as I fell into the abyss past the clouds, wherever I truly was. I know not from where his voice came from, only that I heard it.

"When faced with loss, you took a leap of faith. You have passed the Trial of Fog."

I returned to the hall after fading into black, finding myself holding Glacia still in my arms. And from there, I was able to return home. To my mother's house, literally, and get patched up. The magic of UNOVR Healthcare.

However, I have noticed an odd irregularity. Ever since that day, Glacia has been able to make great leaps. The move, High Jump Kick has apparently been leaned by her since the event. In fact, she seems to enjoy doing so quite often, crashing down with great force. It's almost a bit too coincidental to my actions during the trial, to be unrelated.

In summary, I believe that should a Pokémon perish, if an individual is able to arrive at Everworld, answer his questions and complete his difficult trial, one is free to return with their Pokémon changed for their time there. Said trial probably has variations, I would imagine. I sensed no malice within Seta during my time, only a calculated sort of treatment. As in, that was simply how things worked there. Death was a fact of reality, just like life."

"Hey!" Laguna shouted out loud as she casually pushed right into Professor Ash's lab. Hopefully, she wasn't interrupting anything important. "I uh, finished those notes that I told you I would make for you!"

She'd smile, clutching the little folder of papers close to her chest. It felt almost a little professional like she really was a trainer who came by to help a professor with some great discoveries. Now it was her turn to help out. It was all hand-written, with rather remarkable handwriting.

The first set of stapled pages is clearly information on the Bedrock Shrine. The second set contains information on Everworld, her trial, and Seta. And lastly, an attempt at drawing Seta is included. It's quite well done, considering her experience as an artist in real life. She might have taken a few artistic liberties, but she thought it was close enough to her memory.

"Here, you can take a look now if you want, or if you're busy, feel free to just read them later!" And with that, she'd lay the folder gently down atop Professor Ash's desk.

Laguna had no idea how much time had passed, if any at all. She could hardly focus on anything. Her pokemon was gone.

So why did she keep hearing it's voice?

"Berg, Berg! Bergmite!"

It was so faint, barely even audible, but it was almost as if it was on loop. The worried, panicked tone present even now as it called out to her trainer. Over and over again. It sounded so weak, barely even able to make noise, and yet it still kept shouting its heart out.

Even now, she wanted to protect her. Even when she was dead, moments from being unable to ever return, Glacia wanted to help.

The cries burrowed into Laguna's head. She couldn't ignore it even if she tried, her heart broke. What was she doing? She hadn't failed, she was still there. This body might have given up, but her mind refused.

She had always been too stubborn for her own good.

And so she screamed. Screamed with every ounce of energy she had, forcing herself back onto her feet. They refused to carry her, but that didn't matter. She forced them to support her weight, forced them to move. Laguna let the tears fall, let herself cry out in pain, and yet she continued to move.

Each platform was considerably harder to reach than before, but she refused to stop and think about it. There was no time, no stopping, only leaping and climbing, over and over again. Every step painful, every breath difficult, and yet she still refused to give up. This might have been a game, and nothing was real, but that didn't matter. This world was ones and zeroes, nothing but code.

And yet, this world made her happy. Glacia made her happy, and that's what mattered.

At some point, she finally reached the last platform. The fog had thinned here, but the air was even thinner. Her body had been moving on auto-pilot for so long, she finally allowed herself a moment to pause and simple breathe as she looked around.

And yet, her Pokemon wasn't on the platform. She had arrived late, her fall had cost her everything.

Nearly everything.

Another cry filled the air, or what little of it remained, from behind her. Laguna quickly turned around to see her Bergmite was slowly floating out into the sky. Away from the platform, spinning as it desperately attempted to reach out to her.

Laguna didn't even think, she acted entirely on instinct. She leaped off the platform.

At some point, her arms wrapped around her Pokemon, physically holding her in her arms as she caught her. Whatever magic had been pulling the pokemon away had vanished, the two tumbling back down. Laguna's arms squeezed around Glacia, refusing to let her go even as they fell down, further and further through the clouds.

And through it all, Laguna was laughing. The widest smile on her face.

Glacia was home in her arms, she'd never leave again.

She struggled to find the next platform for a time, only to realize that it was actually father upwards than she expected. There would be no simply jumping over to it and collapsing like before, she'd have to grab onto it with her hands and somehow managed to pull themself up.

There was no time to second guess herself, she had to climb. She once again went at it with a running leap, her hands desperately grasping at the platform. Her nails dug into the ice as she hung there helplessly for a few moments. Her arms strained to support her weight for a few moments before she finally managed to scramble on top.

Her hands had been torn up, but this was only a game. It didn't matter, the pain wasn't real. The throbbing in her head and the ache in her lungs also weren't real. She could ignore them. There wasn't anything bad that would happen if she hurt herself too bad, her character would be fine the next time she loaded up the game.

But Glacia might not be, and she only had one shot for this.

Platform after platform, was climbed and scaled, seemingly going in some kind of spiral upwards. It was hard to truly tell with all the fog, no real sense of direction. Her body had taken a beating, however. Multiple slips, lungs screaming for air, and hands that had seen better days, Laguna was in terrible shape. After the latest platform, she had to spend a whole minute just attempting to catch her breath with what little air remained.

It was like torture, hanging what she wanted so desperately in front of her, only to continue moving the moment she got anywhere close. And the worst part of all was that she couldn't even see her pokemon.

And yet, she had to press on. She couldn't give up on Glacia.

She leaped for the next one, arms outstretched high once more. And yet, the platform was much closer than she could have told. The fog obscured her vision and she had no way of seeing it until she was right upon it.

Her face slammed into the platform, bloodying her nose as she tumbled down. Her hands desperately attempting to grasp for something, finding nothing but empty air.

She fell.

The very first thing she notices was how hard it was to breathe. It felt silly, knowing all this was just virtual reality, a simulation, and yet breathing was difficult. It added to the realism, but it did genuinely freak her out. Would she have had an easier time if she didn't select the realistic pain option? She wanted to be able to fully feel and experience everything, but this... was almost too much.

Laguna gasped for air as she slowly looked around. She really couldn't see much at all, the fog obscuring her vision in every direction. She couldn't even tell where any light was coming from, it was all diffused through the fog. It was a little disorienting, and she hadn't even stood up yet. These platforms were frozen, slippery, keeping balance on just one was going to be a nightmare. Let alone trying to jump to another.

Her eye scanned all around as she attempted to take in what was going on. Had hell frozen over? And yet, in between her gasps for air as she desperately attempted to breath, she heard a noise.

A single cry echo outwards, freezing her in place.

"Berg-"

"Glacia!" Laguna immediately called out, only to regret the outburst of air. She had to take several deep breaths to come back from that. And yet, despite the struggle she called out again. "I'm here! I'm here! We're safe, we-" She has to pause to catch her breath, the struggle almost overwhelming.

The cry was heard again, but this time it was more distant. Her Bergmite was clearly moving away, as if it had no choice. The pain in their call almost evident, a lingering sadness that Laguna couldn't quite handle.

It was then she realized just what she had to do. Laguna had to chase her.