The Ruins of Alph didn't look like much from the outside.
From the southern path past Violet City, the terrain gave way to a rocky basin with low, vine-covered stone structures partially reclaimed by nature. At a glance, it looked like a forgotten archaeological site. But as Kael and Lira descended the worn path into the ruins, the air shifted—thicker, quieter. Like the earth itself was holding its breath.
"Does it always feel like this?" Kael asked.
Lira adjusted her satchel. "Only in places where the rules don't quite stick."
Echo walked ahead, her silver fur catching the morning light. She kept glancing toward a weathered stone chamber that jutted slightly from the earth, its entrance shaped like an eye. The symbol above it—the crescent eye, same as the shrine and the tablet—made Kael stop cold.
"Again…" he murmured.
"Third time," Lira said, noticing his gaze. "That symbol follows you."
"I think it followed my dad first."
They stepped into the entrance, the temperature dropping several degrees instantly. The walls inside the chamber were covered in pictographs—tiny tile-like characters arranged in spirals, arcs, and squares. Some glowed faintly blue.
He reached into his pack and pulled out the wooden tablet from Sprout Tower. He held it up to one of the glyphs. It matched.
"Unown language," Lira said. "No one's ever fully translated it. Most researchers think it's just stylized writing. But it's not."
He traced the shapes with his fingers. "It's alive."
As if on cue, Echo tensed. Her fur began to shimmer faintly. The chamber vibrated. Then—
A tile shifted.
The wall ahead cracked open and slid aside, revealing a narrow hallway behind it, dimly lit by light filtering through ceiling cracks.
Kael exchanged a look with Lira. "Was that supposed to happen?"
She pulled out a Pokéball. "Nope."
They stepped into the passage.
The hallway led to a circular chamber, its walls covered in Unown symbols that pulsed faintly like breathing lights. At the center was a stone pedestal, and resting atop it: a fragment of metal, no bigger than Kael's palm.
He approached slowly.
It was shaped like a badge—but not one from any League Gym. It had no icon, just the same jagged lines etched across its surface. The same pattern that had appeared on Echo during her last battle. The same one in his father's notebook.
Kael reached out.
As his fingers touched the badge, the chamber pulsed.
The walls flared with glowing Unown symbols, and the pedestal vibrated. Kael stumbled back.
From the air around them, Unown began to appear—not from Pokéballs, but from cracks in the light itself. Dozens of them, each shaped like a different letter, floating in slow orbits.
"Whoa…" Lira breathed. "This is… it's waking up."
The Unown didn't attack. They circled Kael and Echo, as if inspecting them. Whispery sounds filled the air—not words, but tones, like a song played underwater.
Then, one of them drifted forward and stopped in front of Echo.
It glowed.
And Echo glowed back.
Silver fur flared with light, but this time it wasn't just shimmer—it was structure. Symbols formed around her, wrapping like a protective veil: some Kael recognized from the ruins, others felt… personal. As if from memory. His memory.
The vision hit him hard.
**A flash. A mountain covered in snow.
A voice—his father's—calling Echo's name.
A Pokémon Kael didn't recognize, shrouded in smoke and fire.
Then silence.**
He gasped, knees hitting the floor. Echo yelped and rushed to his side.
"What happened?" Lira knelt beside him, eyes scanning the room.
"I saw something," he panted. "My dad… Echo… something on Mt. Silver. A Pokémon. I think it was tied to these."
He held up the strange badge.
Lira looked to the floating Unown. "They're drawn to resonance. Your bond with Echo… it's not just strong. It's tuned. Like a key fitting a lock."
He stood, slowly. The Unown were beginning to fade back into the cracks, their light dimming.
Echo stepped forward and pressed her paw against the pedestal. The metal piece embedded itself into the stone—and another compartment opened.
Inside was a fragment of cloth—old, burned at the edges. Kael picked it up carefully.
A torn strip of his father's coat.
Faint writing in pen still legible on the corner:
"—if this is found, seek Morty.
The Eye opens at Ecruteak. The silver path is real."
Kael's throat tightened.
"He was here," he said. "He made it to these ruins. He left this behind."
Lira stared at the cloth. "He knew. About all of this."
He folded the fragment and placed it inside his journal.
"I need to get to Ecruteak. Now."
Lira nodded, though her eyes lingered on the pedestal.
"I'll head south to Goldenrod, then take the magnet train to track some leads," she said. "But I'll find you in Ecruteak."
Kael gave her a grateful look. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For believing this is more than just stories."
She smiled. "We're way past stories now."
Outside, the sun was beginning to set over the basin of the ruins. Echo looked brighter somehow, her movements more deliberate. The mark on her fur—once faint—now shimmered clearly along her shoulder, a jagged crescent line wrapped in Unown script.
Kael touched it gently. She didn't flinch.
"We're close," he whispered. "He was here. He left something behind."
Echo gave a soft cry in response.
As they walked out of the basin and back toward Route 36, Kael glanced once more at the distant horizon where Ecruteak City sat beyond forest and mountain.
The veil between worlds was thinning.
And someone—or something—was waiting behind it.