Seeking the Truth; The Ideal Self

Prologue: Educational Field Trips are Fun!

"Come join me on this trip to Sinnoh! It'll be fun!" Alder had said, "We'll get the entire tourist experience!"

Clearly Alder had a totally different idea of what constituted the term "entire tourist experience". Whenever Reno thought of the definitive Sinnoh vacation he imagined doing things like lounging around the Hotel Grand Lake, swimming along the beaches of Sunnyshore City, or even playing questionable luck based games at the Veilstone City Game Corner.

Heck, he was even dressed for the occasion! He busted out those tacky, but still quite fashionable, floral Alolan shirts. Unfortunately, no one else here appreciated his sense of style...

Unfortunately for him, by the time word had reached his ears that they were not going to be doing any of the activities he had so eagerly planned and itemized in his own personal schedule, it was already too late.

A day of fun in the sun was now being traded for a day in a deep, dank cave.

"Oh don't look so sour, Kid! This will be a fun time!" He recalled Alder reassuring him when the news had broke. Always the optimist that man.

Exploring a bunch of dusty old ruins? Yeah. Not exactly on a list of things he would have considered fun. Admittedly, the only cool part of this entire venture was that he at least got to rub elbows with the acting Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia (quite literally sometimes. Not only was the hole in the wall they were looking at rather cramped, but Cynthia didn't really have a solid concept of personal space...).

When he brought up his complaints to Alder, he was simply told: "Don't stress too much! We'll still have time to do all the fun stuff you want to! Think of this pitstop as an educational field trip! Like we used to take the students on!"

Ah. Yes. A perfect comparison to help ease his agitated nerves.

After all, it wasn't like it was widely known that Reno had never been one for "educational field trips." For as long as he could remember—and he could remember a lot—the idea of going somewhere else just to learn stuff he could easily find in a library somewhere was unappealing. Which was kind of ironic given that it was a known fact to his family and friends that he always excelled outside of the standard classroom environment.

The irony only continued to snowball from there, taking his current occupation into consideration. A few years following his high school graduation –and a shorter than average pokémon adventure– Reno managed to land a job as a Teacher's Aide in a small Trainer School in neighboring Floccessy Town. The job was cushy enough, and it had its ups and downs like any job did. But as the school year dragged on, it became increasingly obvious that his heart just wasn't in it.

"What do you think these symbols mean?"

"Hrm. Hard to tell. They're all worn and withered at this point."

"What about this drawing? It looks strikingly similar to a Volcarona..."

"A Volcarona? In Ancient Sinnoh? That piques the interest there, doesn't it?"

Two figures inspected the series of etchings scribed into the stone walls of the Solaceon Ruins. Their reading light graciously supplied by a Volcarona, who was hovering just a few feet away from her trainer.

One of these figrues, the aforementioned Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, had always been known to frequent this site in her spare time. The other figure, however, was one that undoubtedly turned heads: Former Champion of Unova, and Reno's current boss, Alder.

For the general public it was odd seeing these two individuals together in the same room unless the context of their get together was a pokémon battle. For those more accustomed to the inner workings of each of the Regional Pokémon Leagues, this was far from strange.