Warning; this chapter may be a little tough.

  I wanted to experiment with something new, and this is the result. Some sensitive topics are developed, the 'drama' bel is quite prominent, and it doesn't really advance Sandy's story, so there's no harm in skipping this interlude if it doesn't suit your taste.

  For those who have stayed, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

  ??? POV Yezalel ???

  Once upon a time, on an isnd far, far away, there lived a young Fairy.

  The Fairy was kind, always willing to help others, even with the smallest problems. Some tried to take advantage of her goodness, but the Fairy was kind, not naive. She always emerged from these encounters brighter than when she entered, gaining valuable experiences that she used to enrge her horizons.

  Over the years, her feats became widely known, spreading across the entire isnd. Many admired her, almost everyone wanted to be like her, and she was pleased to live with the expectations that she and others had imposed on her.

  The support of her friends and family was reward enough; she didn't need or want anything more. The feeling of knowing she was doing the right became her reason to exist, sustaining and increasing her power as her story progressed.

  This is how the Fairy began to forge her own legend.

  Over the decades, the winds began to whisper her name, a name that a human had given her; Yezalel. That person was shipwrecked one day on the isnd's shores, and she decided to help it, just as she had done with countless Pokemon until then. Her kindness was rewarded with tales of the noble traveler, sung in slow balds under the moonlight and stars, just on the beach they met.

  In those precious years, the Fairy learned the meaning of love, the pain of loss, and the ment for those who are no longer there, but that suffering also fueled her legend, gaining power that she used to continue helping her people.

  Over the centuries, her nascent glow of Divinity grew ever greater, but at a cost. The Fairy's innate mastery over the mind made her incapable of forget, preventing her from drinking the sweet waters of ignorance.

  At first, this wasn't a problem, as it allowed her to learn from mistakes, and never forgetting the failures that one makes is a sure way to avoid repeating them. Nonetheless, eternity and eidetic memory don't usually mix well.

  Surrounded by familiar faces who looked at her with innocent curiosity, Yezalel one day realized that everyone she had ever known and considered family had long since passed away, leaving only their descendants behind.

  For them, the Fairy was something that had always been there, someone they could always count on if any trouble arose. For her, they were the precious children and offspring's she never had, further strengthening her resolve to help and protect them, at any cost.

  Rekindling the conviction that had begun to wear thin over time, the Fairy used her legend for the first time in her long life to establish a series of rules in her domain, rules she named as 'Accords of Yezalel'. These would alert her if they were broken, informing of which rule had not been respected and allowing her to act accordingly as quickly as possible.

  The authoritarian measure, to her surprise, was greeted with jubition by the isnd's inhabitants. These new Accords would be passed down from generation to generation, serving as a list of things they were not to do, allowing them to prosper in peace.

  Unfortunately, the Fairy was not as happy as her folk. The light of her youth had long since faded; the only thing keeping her alive was the bright of her own legend. Dimming this glow weakened her, making Yezalel more lethargic for a long time.

  The increase in her efficiency compensated the reduced energy, allowing her to continue helping as she always had, but a slow mind always makes mistakes, mistakes she was unable to forget. Her help was appreciated most of the time, but those rare occasions when she had caused more harm than good always haunted her, flooding her dreams and turning them into nightmares.

  Particurly serious was the occasion when she failed to help a Krabby colony in time. One night, the Fairy was too exhausted to answer the call of her Accords. One night, a flock of Frillish led by a Jellicent invaded the Krabby beach, mercilessly sughtering nearly all of its residents by draining their life.

  The crustaceans didn't expire without fight, of course. Even the Tentacool and some Tentacruel joined the efforts to stop the invaders, but their attacks were of little use against the relentless hordes of vengeful spirits, barely managing to hold them down long enough until Yezalel awaken to 'fix' the problem.

  That was the first time her help had come too te, and the faces of the few Krabby left alive were something she would have to live with for the rest of her days. Most of the little crabs would soon evolve, driven by their hatred and resentment toward the Ghosts who destroyed their lives, becoming Kinglers that will pass on the danger that the Pokemon of this type represents to their progeny, turning the anecdote into horror stories.

  A truthful base mixed with a huge amount of justified hate became, over the generations, into the perfect recipe for the emergence of a deep fear and irrational hatred toward beings who, in reality, had not caused any direct harm to them, but to their each generation more distant ancestors.

  After those tragic events, the Fairy was tempted to once again use her nascent Divinity and infinite potential to erect a barrier around her domain. This would isote the isnd from the rest of the world, preventing a tragedy like the one of that day from ever happening again, but there were some reasons preventing her from making such a drastic decision.

  The first was that she was just beginning to recover from the previous use of her glow; using it once more so quickly would take its toll, leaving the isnd unprotected and without a Guardian until the Fairy recovered, which could take decades. The second was much less pragmatic, but it was the one that tipped the bance.

  Memories of her youth took her back to her first encounter with that enigmatic but noble traveler. What would have happened if, before she was even born, an old Fairy had found herself at the same crossroads and decided to erect a barrier? What would her life have been like without meeting that human?

  Perhaps she would have been curious about the outside world, seeking to explore it and abandoning her role as Guardian at some point. She probably wouldn't have sted so long in this role otherwise, withering away in solitude without ever having known love.

  It is safe to say that the Fairy would no longer be Yezalel, as she would not even have obtained that name.

  That being the case, what right did she have to deprive everyone she was supposed to protect from the possibility of a fortuity encounter like the one she'd had? What right did she have to lock up everyone she sought to help, all under the fragile promise of shelter them from the potential dangers of the outside world?

  None. She had no right to do that. Those would be the actions of a Tyrant, not a Guardian, and the Fairy was too old and wise to succumb into the temptation of becoming one… at least not consciously.

  Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she continued helping her people as before the tragedy until, after a few decades, fate seemed to prove her point when another harrowing conflict came not from outside, but from the very heart of her domain.

  At the center of the isnd was a ke, teeming with aquatic and semi-aquatic Pokemon. Inhabiting its depths, legions of red, blue, and white-striped Basculin competed for territory, engaging in 'friendly' battles for the right to cim a piece of the abundant resources.

  Things didn't usually escate too much, the Fairy had made sure of that, but from an outside perspective, those battles were brutal and bloody, very dangerous and deadly.

  That fateful morning had begun like any other, with the piranhas fighting tirelessly for just one more bite of space to rule. The white-striped ones were retively peaceful, preferring to stay in one corner and defend their own territory rather than seek to invade the rest of the ke themselves, but the red and blue groups were insatiable.

  Absorbed in their madness, the Basculin on both sides didn't even realize that they moved their conflict into the Magikarp protected territory, and I think it's clear what happened next. The years had been kind to her, having recovered almost all of the glow she spent imposing her Accords, but even with the tter still working and her prodigious mind completely lucid, she hadn't been able to react in time that day.

  Before the arms could warn her about the broken rules, a Magikarp was gravely wounded in the crossfire, and as if Arceus itself had decreed it, the carp instantly evolved into Gyarados, seeking to destroy that which had almost killed it. When the Fairy teleported to the ke, half of it and the vast majority of its residents had been obliterated by a Hyper Beam.

  Hundreds, if not thousands, of Basculin died that day, as did many other Pokemon that inhabited the usually calm waters. Neutralize the enraged Gyarados was a trivial matter to her; a teleport to an unoccupied beach was enough to disorient the beast, allowing her to knock it out with ease and throw the Gyarados far from her domain, exiled.

  The consequences, on the other hand, were not so trivial. All the death that occurred at the ke resonated with one of the few surviving Basculin, a white-striped one with slightly different coloring than the others.

  Pure potential flowed in the area, product of the recent evolution of Magikarp, and the piranha absorbed all the hatred, guilt and resentment that permeated the waters, as well as the very souls of its deceased retives, forcing its evolution. The shape expanded, red and blue will-o'-wisps swirling around it in a purple glint, granting an overwhelming power that the fish was unable to control, driving it mad.

  The Fairy heard the spirits' whispers, warning her of what was about to happen, and she wasn't te this time. A simple snap of her fingers teleported all the survivors to the nearest beach, a different one than the coast she'd used to banish the Gyarados, leaving her alone in the ke to face the new threat.

  The battle was unexpectedly intense, she had never needed to use so much power until then.

  Her limited mastery of the mind was more than useless against the Basculegion; it was a weakness. At first she had tried to reassure the lost souls, since the vast majority of them were innocent, but it had proved futile. The Ghosts' howls infiltrated her mind, causing severe pain that dissuaded her from using peaceful tactics.

  Her opponent was formidable in and of itself, seeming to have endless energy, regenerating from any attack she managed to inflict in mere seconds. The resulting rage from being wounded only fueled its berserk power, piercing through the barriers the Fairy erected as if they were mere forest leaves, forcing her to evade relentlessly.

  Evasive tactics led to constant but weak attacks, as these were already enough to pierce the defenses of the crazed Basculegion, but not to substantially diminish its aura. The bottomless pit of energy composed of all the souls that formed it, driven by endless anger and immaterial body, allowed it to continue indefinitely.

  After a long night of nonstop fighting, the Fairy came to a sad conclusion: she didn't have enough strength to neutralize the threat. Swallowing her pride, Yezalel was forced to admit her weakness, but she didn't abandon her duty. If she was unable to defeat it, at least she would ensure that the phantom wouldn't pose a threat to the rest of her domain.

  With a snap, she teleported herself a considerable distance from the ke. All the beings around had long since fled, fearful of the fierce battle raging, allowing the Fairy to execute her pn without worry. Accessing her inner glow, she formed a dome around the crystal-clear waters the creature stood in, trapping it within.

  The ruse wasn't as difficult as establishing her Accords, as the range and purpose she had imbued with her Divine power was much more limited, but her mind, exhausted from the grueling battle, forced her to retreat to her chambers. Once there, she had little time to consider what she would do with the sealed Ghost before sinking into a dreamless sleep…