The forest was unnaturally silent.
Even the wind held its breath as Ashwin moved deeper into the corrupted region, guided only by the flickering signals from Elgyem and the scent markers left by his scouting Combee. What had once been a lush wilderness was now a hollow graveyard of twisted bark, blackened leaves, and fungal webs clinging like wounds to the trees.
Ashwin wore a reinforced travel suit issued by the system—lightweight, pressure-sealed, and equipped with internal filters and heat-regulating lining. On his shoulder rode a vigilant Growlithe, eyes glowing with focused flame aura, while Elgyem floated ahead, psychic tendrils scanning for signs of infection or movement.
Behind them followed a handpicked squad of trained Pokémon:
Fennekin and Litleo, guiding bursts of purifying flame at weak spore clusters.
Shinx twins, scanning ahead with their electric senses.
Torchic, now significantly stronger, assisting with embers to burn weakened roots.
Delphox, silent and grim, her eyes flickering with memory and dread.
Ashwin's heart pounded. He remembered this trail—not from maps, but from Delphox's shared vision.
The place where her former trainer's artifact was taken.A hidden cavern lined with spire-like stones, deep in the western valley.A place the Delphox avoided ever since, filled with something dark, something stolen.
The same place now reeked of advanced spore growth.
The group moved carefully.
As they approached the valley basin, the terrain shifted. The ground was soft with rot, yet warm from below. Delphox paused and raised her staff; it glowed with pale fire as the landscape ahead twisted into view.
Ashwin crouched behind a half-fallen boulder and peered down.
Nestled between two jagged cliffs was a collapsed ruin. Ancient—stonework barely visible beneath fungal overgrowth and vines. But what caught his attention were the strange metallic growths—antennas? pipes?—jutting out from the stones, blinking with faint lights.
"Those aren't natural," he whispered.
Delphox nodded slowly, lips thin. "This is where they took it."
As the team made their descent, Elgyem chirped sharply, flashing a red glyph in Ashwin's HUD.
ALERT: Residual Psionic Signature Detected— Class: Psychic Artifact— Origin: Linked to Trainer Mark: ???— Status: Severed Link (Corrupted)— Dangerous Instability Detected
Ashwin's breath caught. Delphox's eyes narrowed. She stepped forward, her staff shaking slightly as the memory rushed back.
Her artifact, a flame-twined orb designed to amplify psychic resonance, had been forcefully ripped from her after her last battle… when her first trainer disappeared.
And now it was here.
In the heart of the infection.
"Pull back for now," Ashwin whispered to the team. "We're not engaging without containment."
But the moment he turned to leave, the earth beneath them trembled.
A low, guttural screech echoed from the heart of the ruin.
From the darkened archway ahead, a Pokémon staggered out.
It wasn't fully corrupted—but close. Covered in twisted fungal plating, its eyes flickered with unnatural rage. A Hypno, once clearly trained, now mutated, and pulsing with erratic energy. The psychic readings spiked immediately.
Delphox stepped forward protectively, rage blazing in her stare.
"Hypno… That was one of the handlers from back then," she murmured.
The Hypno lunged, unthinking.
Ashwin didn't hesitate. "Fire types—disperse formation. Do not kill—disable and contain!"
The battle erupted in flame and psychic bursts. Litleo and Fennekin worked to suppress the spores flaring off Hypno's body, while Shinx twins disrupted its concentration with synchronized shocks. Delphox, staff ablaze, struck through the thickest tendrils of corruption and flung the creature to the ground.
Ashwin darted forward with a containment tag and slammed it onto Hypno's chest.
The system beeped.
[Status: Contaminated Psychic-Type Captured (Hypno – Male)][Special Note: Linked to Artifact Corruption Source – Data Sync Available Upon Recovery]
As the corrupted energy faded, Delphox's expression darkened. She turned her head slightly toward Ashwin.
"They took more than the artifact," she said. "They've been using it… to control."
Ashwin looked toward the deeper tunnel behind the ruin. A faint red glow pulsed there, like a heartbeat.
He exhaled slowly.
"This wasn't just a cultivation site," he muttered. "It's a lab. And someone's been testing psychic control—on Pokémon."
Ashwin stood at the precipice of a vast underground passage. The residual spores clung to the air like mist, whispering memories of forgotten ruin and violated purpose. Delphox, ever silent, tightened her grip on her staff. Her ears twitched as faint echoes licked at the edges of their senses—memories… or something worse.
A familiar ping resounded in Ashwin's mind:
[New Quest Unlocked: "Remnants of the Flame"]Objective: Recover the artifact left behind by Delphox's previous trainer.Location: Deeper Ruins – Inner SanctumDifficulty: High (Psychic Contamination Active)Rewards: Delphox Memory Fragment, Psychic Amplifier Core, Rare Evolution Catalyst, Hidden Archive Access
Ashwin exhaled deeply. "Well… looks like we're diving even deeper."
They moved.
The descent was quiet but not still. Psy-energy pulsed faintly along the walls—organic veins of fungi that shimmered in pale violet, reacting to Elgyem's presence. The little Psychic-type pulsed once, scanning ahead, guiding them through narrow passageways choked by decay and collapsed stone.
Burn marks scarred the path ahead.
Torchic chirped low, pressing closer. Shinx, the sibling duo, flanked Ashwin cautiously. And Vespiquen, though wary of such confined darkness, remained vigilant at the rear.
They stepped into what once might have been a research hall. Shattered equipment, twisted surgical frames, and broken containment pods littered the area. The air reeked of ozone and scorched metal.
Delphox lowered her head, whispering something in a language older than Kalos itself.
"This is where they did it," she said. "Where they used it. The artifact… to try and force evolution, to try and break minds."
Ashwin clenched his fists. "And your trainer?"
"He tried to destroy it. But they took it from him."
At the far end of the chamber, a pedestal stood—blackened, cracked, but unmistakably significant.
[Artifact Fragment Detected – 87% match with original Delphox Trainer Signature][Secondary Objective Unlocked: Full Recovery of the Artifact Core]
Ashwin stepped closer, brushing away the fungal overgrowth. The pedestal reacted—a burst of residual energy surged, throwing up a psychic shield. Delphox raised her hand, shielding them.
The ruins groaned.
A sealed wall behind the pedestal shimmered, as if waiting for recognition.
"Looks like we're not done yet," Ashwin muttered.
The seal cracked open.
And the path ahead pulsed with something alive.