Quote Originally Posted by ARandomTool View Post
Rusty woke up and walked out of his room. He glanced back and considered another day of rest, but all his lazy nothing-doing was driving him stir-crazy, even with his spiritual company.
He considered the information he had absorbed through the "metaknowledge" tactic he had learned on another timeline, where you know stuff you logically shouldn't know because something bigger is whispering it into your ear, then glanced at the Lit Candle of the Departed.
"Sod it," he grumbled, taking the bright icicle, with that odd Mimyuku Statue in mind. He considered leaving Bless (that was her name now, he decided) behind, but decided against it. Never know, she might feel something he can't.
You decide to take Lit Candle of the Departed with you to the Mimikyu statue and Bless joins you the entire way. The night still feels a bit unsettling and there are still things that Bless can do that surprise you, but nonetheless, you have become accustomed to her presence and it helps you not to feel so alone.

You arrive before the Mimikyu statue and place the Lit Candle of the Departed before it. Not sure what to expect, you brace yourself for anything.

Item [Lit Candle of the Departed] was removed from the Team Inventory.

For a quick moment, the flame suddenly flashes and suddenly everything around you is enveloped in a violet-colored light. It quickly dies down and when you look back, you see the Mimikyu statue has vanished, and in its place is the spirit of the Mimikyu in question. He is still shaken a bit and it takes him a few seconds to get used to being able to move again, but then he looks toward you.

"I can't thank you enough..." he speaks to you with a bow. "Please, come with me. There's something you need to know. Something I have to confess to... before I must depart."

You nod, and you and Bless follow the Mimikyu spirit to the back of the strip mall. After moving aside a few boxes, he reveals a hidden set of doors that leads downward. While originally intended to be a supply area, you follow him and he takes you to a whole other room.

He lights the candles throughout the room, and suddenly the room is enveloped in an unsettling glow, but you find all kinds of maps, journals, and records stored throughout the room.

"My name is Dacul, and I used to be friends with Ninian the Numel," he explains, showing you pictures of the exploration team he once had with her. "We were a great team and the best of friends..."

"...before she became Karrasin."

"She was the one who originally pushed me to join her and the whole prospect of exploring Barendal seemed so fascinating the way she described it," Dacul tells you. "We didn't have much money, but we made due with what we had and we decided to make this little underground supply shed our base. There were never any exploration guilds in Southwarren, but we thought if we became successful enough, maybe one day we'd have our own and we could be guildmasters. It was a goal we wanted to strive for."

"We had been going well for years, and then that's when everything with the Stalkers started to happen," Dacul tells you. "I didn't know what Stalkers were at the time when I first heard about them. I didn't know they assimilated friends, family, coworkers, and all the Pokémon we know and trust. And then one day I came across the name Karrasin. I saw it a few times scribbled in our exploration journals in a handwriting I didn't recognize. It was disturbing and for a moment, I thought Ninian had found a third Pokémon to join our team and just hadn't gotten around to telling me yet. As everything around town was starting to go wrong, I felt compelled to ask Ninian about it."

"Where I asked her is exactly where she... no, Karrasin had turned me into stone," Dacul explains further. "I don't know what made her do that instead of just outright kill me the way she did with all the others, but that was some kind of vicious power these otherworldly evils have. Maybe Ninian was able to trick the Karrasin inside her. Maybe make her think it was better to torture my entrapped soul when she was trying to keep the truth from dying with me. I don't know for sure."

"I can sense she's still out there, and I know what Karrasin is capable of," Dacul warns you. "She won't stop until everyone in Southwarren is burnt to nothing but ashes. You have to stop her before Karrasin continues to make Ninian... my best friend... continue to do atrocities that she wouldn't dream of doing."

"My time is almost up..." Dacul tells you as you notice he is beginning to fade. "My body was destroyed in that petrifaction, and while the candle has allowed me to be free, I feel that power is beginning to fade and I must move on. Unlike your Eevee friend, I don't have the conduit I need to remain a part of this world. At least not anymore..."

"Please... free Ninian as you have freed me..." Dacul tells you as he slowly fades into nothing. "My spirit prison was of stone, but her prison is far more catastrophic...

...no one should be the puppet of a killer..."

With the image of Dacul now gone, you now realize the truth and what must be done next.

The Stalker "Karrasin" has been identified as Ninian the Numel.
The Team Records have been updated.

Rusty O'Toole the Lucario (M: Fighting/Steel)
Health: 5/5
Sanity: 3/4
Perk: Security | Learned Abilities: Rescue/Escape
Failed Assassinations: 0/2