“FALL”

I returned to the forest the next day.

I had no destination just the faint memory of that Tinkatuff crying pulling me this way earlier.

And yeah, maybe I was still feeling good about that moment. I gave a hammer to a Pokémon. It hugged my leg. I’m basically a hero. Someone give me a medal.

But somewhere in the back of my head, I couldn’t stop thinking about that glitch. That one flicker, like the world skipped a frame when the hammer touched its hands.

I don’t know what that was. But I did know one thing.

It was shiny. It was definitely shiny now.

That meant one thing and one thing only:

I needed to find it again. Confirm it. Maybe even nickname it something stupid like “Rusty” or “FrameDrop.” History demanded it.

So, I followed the trail, past the familiar stump and deeper into the forest.

And then—

I stepped into a clearing.

It was… beautiful.

The beams of sunlight filtered through a break in the trees. The grass was impossibly green, bending softly in the breeze. Wildflowers I didn’t recognize poked up from the underbrush like they’d been planted just to look good. The wind was warm, and for a moment I forgot about Pokémon or shinies or anything.

I just breathed.

And then the sky tore open.

A ripple in the air like heat off asphalt split reality itself. A gash of violent light stretched sideways in the sky. It shimmered unnaturally, flickering with geometric patterns, like something from a different world trying to force itself into this one.

It looked like an Ultra Wormhole.

And out of it came something small, silent.

Kartana.

Paper-thin limbs unfolded like origami blades. Its body shifted and clicked, angles too precise for anything natural. Yellow and white, with red ribbons streaming off its arms like ceremonial cloth. It hovered slightly above the ground, no wings, no sound—just there.

Its voice came like a gust of wind.

“You there. Child of this world. You stand before a blade forged by time itself.”

My mouth went dry.

“You can talk?”

It nodded once, stiff as its own geometry.

“Born of steel and honor. I do not speak as your kind does, but I have been given the means to convey my truth.”

I stepped back, my hands trembling slightly.

“What… what are you doing here?”

It tilted its head slightly.

“I am here to fulfill my duty. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Its arms extended, blades catching the sunlight.

“You are pitiful. Soft. Rootless. The world bends around you and yet you fail to rise. You do not deserve the gifts this realm has given.”

Gone. A flash. A breath.

I didn’t even see it move.

It was behind me.

“FALL.”