"We're home, Dustox," Armand grinned at his Pokemon. "Oh, I hope Ilyas' husband doesn't kill me when I show up at their door."

Dustox nudged him, and he smiled back at it.

"Well, let's go."

He swallowed his pride and knocked on the front door. He heard some shuffling inside before the door was opened to reveal Elin, who had a frown on her face.

"Oh, Uncle Armand," she greeted with a nod. "Dad's a bit busy at the moment, so just come in."

Armand gave Dustox a look before following his niece inside. Voices floated towards them as they entered the room. Ilyas, Kadir, and Ronan were all surrounding Xenala, who in turn was shaking her leg up and down impatiently.

"He was supposed to come back two months ago," Xenala muttered. "Something bad must have happened to him, I'm sure of it."

"Now, Xenala, maybe the meetings had to last longer," Kadir tried to console her.

"For two months?" Ronan whispered, Ilyas nudging him in the stomach.

"Dad. Pops," Elin greeted. "Uncle Armand's here."

This caught the attention of the others and Ilyas gave him a weary smile.

"Ah, welcome back Armand," he greeted. "You're kind of here at a bad time."

"Yeah, I can see that," Armand noted. "What happened? Why is the Champion like this?"

Kadir sighed and folded his arms. "Carnol had to head to the Feridia region for a meeting with the musical performers there. It was supposed to be a week trip, but he hasn't returned in two months."

"No one has been able to leave this region to search for him," Xenala spoke up, looking at the ground. "We've all had our duties, Salma's been silent, and the Ainsworths are still busy business people. If I wasn't the Champion, I-"

"I'll go," Armand volunteered.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," Kadir said, Ilyas shushing him.

"Armand, you just got back," Ilyas began. "Shouldn't you rest?"

"I'll sleep at a hotel tonight, and then leave the first thing tomorrow," Armand replied as he turned to leave. "I still need to make amends for what happened all those years ago. I'll go search for him."

"Armand-" Ilyas was cut off by Xenala standing.

"You better bring him back, or else," she warned.

"Understood, Champion."

As soon as Armand left, he let out a little shriek as Salma suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Oh, Salma," he greeted. "Xenala said that you've been silent."

"Welcome back, Armand," Salma greeted. "I've been researching Feridia and it doesn't look good. I came by on my way to meet with Xenala to tell her what I learned when I overheard you and Ilyas. I want to come with you."

"Are you sure?" Armand asked. "I don't think you'll be able to survive a trip with just me."

"I'm only coming along to help find Carnol," came the reply as she nodded at her Haxorus. "If you step out of line, I'll be prepared. Clear?"

"Crystal," Armand muttered.

***

*Three Months Ago*

"Ugh, I knew I was looking at the map wrong," Carnol muttered to himself as he and Stoutland made their way through a forest. "Somern City should be around here somewhere."

He looked up as the sun began to sink behind the trees, and he began to become more nervous.

"L-let's hurry before it gets dark," he muttered.

The two of them began to move quickly through the trees, ignoring the cries of various Pokemon.

"I think that you'd be safer in your ball," he suddenly brought up.

Disregarding Soutland's protests, Carnol returned it to its ball and kept on walking. The noises in the forest started to fade away, causing his nervousness to rise. Suddenly, all sound just cut out, making him stop.

"H-hello?" he called. "Is anyone there?"

Silence. Carnol shrugged and took a step forward. Something suddenly grabbed his ankle, making him fall face-first onto the ground. Whatever had grabbed him started to drag him towards the trees. Carnol screamed and started clawing at the grass, trying to find anything that could stop him from being dragged. After a few minutes of this, the dragging stopped, and he found himself in a clearing surrounded by hooded figures.

"Ah, the musical boy from Iona," one of the figures said. "We've found him."

"What exactly is our plan again?" another figure asked. "Just kidnap some random kid from Iona?"

"It's in order to gather information on that region," a third figure replied. "This way, we can gather their weaknesses. And with that knowledge, we can control two regions instead of just one."

Carnol gulped as a fourth figure crouched in front of him.

"Carnol, right?" the figure asked. "Welcome to Feridia."