Morning hadn't even arrived yet, and Cyrus already knew sleep wasn't happening.
Not after that laugh.
Not after the way the air bent around them on the trail home, and not after the shapes he thought he saw in the dark but couldn't prove were real.
Cyrus sat upright in the inn's bed while Ditto sprawled across his chest like a warm, gooey emotional support blanket. Kina was in the room next door, close enough for him to hear her Toucannon's soft wing shuffles… but not close enough to ask:
"Hey, did you also hear something giggling on the mountain like it was enjoying the chaos?"
He didn't know if it was safer to pretend it hadn't happened.
Ditto quivered uneasily. Cyrus rubbed the gel. "I know, buddy. I know. But we can't do anything until the binding soultion gets here."
Ditto bubbled in a way that translated to:
'And you think that thing's gonna wait politely?'
Kina knocked sharply at sunrise — crisp, controlled, betraying nerves only if someone listened too closely.
"You heard it too," she said when he opened the door.
Cyrus didn't bother lying. "Yeah."
"Any idea what it was?"
"Nope." He zipped his gear. "And I don't love that."
"Good." She huffed. "Let's keep matching each other's terror."
Gengar phased through the wall like he owned the building and shouted "Boo!"
Both of them flinched.
"Too soon," Cyrus said flatly.
Even Gengar backed off.
Signs on the Trail — Wrong Signs
They headed up the slope with the binding Soultion secured, but the mountain already felt… different.
Wild Pokémon that normally treated Ursaluna territory with respect now treated it like a border during wartime.
A cluster of Hisuian Sneasel slid past them in absolute silence, eyes wide.
A lone Wyrdeer stood in a clearing, staring uphill with ears pinned back.
Even a bulky Ursaring lumbered downhill with its fur bristled stiff in panic.
Kina crouched to inspect the mud. "These tracks weren't here yesterday, and neither were these Pokémon?"
"Goodra?" Cyrus asked.
"No…" She gestured around. "Whatever came through didn't leave footprints. It left… impressions."
Circular. Too smooth. Too symmetrical. But that doesn't explain the new Pokémon."
Like something placing the edge of a loop into the dirt, and then lifting it again.
Cyrus felt the hair on his arms rise. "Let's focus on the tracks first the Pokémon could have come from another area do to all the movement. So have you ever seen tracks like that?"
"No. And I've tracked a lot of weird crap."
They both stood slowly.
Neither said what they were thinking.
The First Distortion
Halfway up the mountain, the air wavered — a curtain of invisible heat bending the trees into rippling shapes. Cyrus checked the scanner.
"Localized spatial shift," he muttered. "Something's stressing the atmosphere."
"Something," Kina repeated. "Not someone. Something."
And then it giggled.
High. Fleeting. Not birdlike. Not childlike either.
Just… wrong.
Every Pokémon froze.
Mudsdale's reins trembled.
Gengar stopped mid-hover.
Ditto hardened into a tense little cube on Cyrus's shoulder.
Cyrus slowly turned.
Nothing.
Not a footprint. Not a moving branch.
Nothing except the faint outline where the air looked slightly… circular, like a bubble being pinched closed.
Kina whispered, "Cyrus… something followed us up yesterday."
"And it's still here."
"Do you think it's hostile?"
"I think," Cyrus said softly, "it's curious. And that's worse."
The Mountain Stirs
The closer they got to the basin, the more the whole mountain felt… alive.
Leaves trembled with no wind.
Shadows stretched in odd angles.
The distortion waves grew stronger, brushing against their skin like static.
Then the tremor hit — a low roll beneath their boots.
Followed by a roar that shook the bones in their chests.
Goodra.
Awake. Agitated. And very, very close.
Before the tremor faded, that giggle drifted overhead again — lighter, softer this time, like whatever caused it was enjoying the show.
Kina exhaled, long and shaky. "Okay. So. Giant dragon titan? That's Mad. An now some unseen thing laughing at us....great."
"We're totally qualified for this," Cyrus joked weakly.
"Absolutely not," Kina answered.
But she stepped closer anyway.
Their Pokémon formed a ring around them.
Ditto pressed against Cyrus's neck like a concerned scarf.
They reached the final bend in the trail and looked toward the basin.
Something massive shifted its weight in the fog.
The Titan was moving.
And somewhere in the treetops, something unseen giggled again — softer this time, almost pleased.
Watching.
Following.
Interested.