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Volo had a dream, once. He planned it out so carefully over years and years of plotting, until his ambitions consumed him, until he became one with his desires.
And then when it all began, as he watched the shadowy pokemon from beyond tear a painful, maddening hole in the sky, it spat out a child onto his feet.
… Alright, so it's more like he was back to his usual wanderings around Hisui and decided to give Mistress Cogita a visit when he saw her having a spot of afternoon tea with a strangely-dressed teenage girl, but it's practically the same thing.
He knew what he was looking at immediately; the keystone to his plan, the puzzle piece that will complete his picture of a new utopia… all in the frame of a terrified little (Arceus, she's so short!) girl trying and failing to soothe her frayed nerves with hot leaf water.
He remembers their first meeting well: a bright wide smile slapped across his face, Cogita's always indecipherable expression, his bright and cheery attitude coaxing out the girl's first smile and laugh.
Akari, that's her name.
That's Akari now, a fellow partner as they trek across the Hisuian landscape, clear from her expression that it's all both intimately familiar and foreign all at the same time. (She told him how she remembers a place or a time far different than the one she's in now.) The guild outfit suits her well, and she complements it with a headkerchief to keep hair away from her face. It made for an adorable image, all in all. A dull blue and green Shellos is perched on her pack, and for some reason she doesn't mind the slime it keeps dripping, although Volo supposes that since it's guild standards for their packs to be watertight she can afford to be more cavalier with how she handles her own pokemon and gods.
Volo is sure it's been quite some time since she first came here, several months maybe, but he isn't keeping track of time, and Akari adjusts so well to Hisui that sometimes he forgets that she's not one of the natives here. Of course, her Arc Phone (as she called it) brings him back to the reality of her situation but as time passed, he minded it less and less.
Just like his dreams of a new utopia faded.
Volo has spent so long by himself with acquaintances only at an arm's distance that he's forgotten what human companionship is like, what friendship with another person is like. Yes, he likes his togepi and gible quite a lot, but it's not the same as Akari trailing after him like a lost wurmple when he first took her out of the Ancient Retreat, not the same as introducing her to his fellow guild members and watching her don their characteristic white and gold apron and blue get-up as something warm and strong glowed in his chest.
"Hey Volo, do you see it?"
Volo shakes himself out of his memories and looks to where Akari is pointing. It's a strange eerie dome, flashing with lightning and colors he can’t name, and he can see shapes fleeing away from it. "Ah, another spacetime distortion," he remarked, and when he heard his friend huff he turned towards her. She's pouting, biting the inside of her cheek. It's obvious that she's disheartened by their appearances. Despite having such a tactical and practical mind towards battling alongside a lackluster ability to interact well with other people (except for Volo and Mistress Cogita, of course, and that's great isn't it), she always held a soft spot for the plight of pokemon.
"It's right in the middle of our path, and it's approaching night. Why don't we find somewhere to camp?" Volo offered, and Akari nodded, giving the distortion one last guilty look before turning away and finding a good spot for the night.
She's told him her worries about them before. The distortions seem to follow the pair around like a bad omen, and despite Volo's insistence that they always travel together, a part of him is scared that she'd slip away in the dead of night in some misguided act of altruism so that he won't be affected by them, stupid as that sounds. There's also the reports of the frenzied nobles, how a few of them have torn their way through the Hisuian landscape and left destruction in their wake, human and pokemon alike.
No, if there's anyone that should feel guilty, it should be Volo.
But it's hard to feel guilty as she thanks him for their meal and lights up at their food, as they snuggle close together around the fire and remark at how they shared the same stars. He'd listen as she recounted her memories of her home, and she'd look at him with wondrous eyes as he retold all the myths and legends he could remember. He hasn't run out yet, thankfully.
"Volo."
"Hm?"
It's the dead of night now and Akari is lying on her bedroll as Volo takes the first watch with his vigilant gible, togepi and Akari's shellos already fast asleep on top of each other. She's facing him, something fragile and vulnerable in her eyes. "I'm glad we met," she began. She makes a wet noise on the back of her throat, and he reaches out to pet her hair, a comforting action she always seems to love. It doesn't fail him now as she relaxes into his touch and speaks again. "I'm glad we met and that we're friends. I don't know what I'd do without you."
You'd be at home doing whatever girls there do, Volo thought to himself, but he answered with, "I'm sure you can handle yourself just fine anyways, my dear friend," but it doesn't seem to be the right answer.
She shakes her head, takes Volo's hand off her hair, and clutches it close, tight enough for his hand to start aching. "I mean it, Volo. I was so lost, and you're kind enough to get me on my feet."
But also cruel enough to put you here anyways.
Volo squeezes back and inches closer to her, and she closes her eyes with a sigh. He hopes she'll dream sweet dreams. "Let's stay together, hm? Life out here can be rather perilous, and I'm starting to think we make a good pair."
Akari tiredly giggled at that, and it's a sound that makes Volo's heart soar. "We do…"
He pats her head once more, and with a soft "good night", he watches as she slowly drifts off to sleep, her breath slowing, her heartbeat calming, all the tension in her body relaxing.
Sometimes, dreams end with violence, with discouragement and failure.
Volo's ended with a soft sigh in the breeze, and a new dream to protect this girl and be with her, whatever the cost may be.
They'll need to get off this place soon; it can only get worse from here.