Alexis left San Martín de los Andes after buying more supplies and a few supplements for his Pokémon, spending a big part of his rewards from Lácar Cup on Carbos, Protein, and Calcium. Eevee was at a turning point in which it was very close to learning Shadow Ball, and Sewaddle was also really close to the threshold of Evolution. Taking those things into account, Alexis wanted to provide them with the best so they could train effectively.
He would travel straight northeast, so he was set to reach Neuquén in around four or five days—provided nothing happened on the way, of course. Back in the wilderness, Alexis and his Pokémon continued their trek, stopping on the way to train, enjoy the cool shade under the trees, and clean up in streams or ponds.
"Come on guys, let's pick up the pace."
*
Scouting the area for suitable places to rest as night drew nearer, Alexis was somehow able to find a cave under a small hill. As they went inside the cave, setting down his gear and quickly building a small campfire, Alexis relaxed a little bit. Just as he lit the fire, he jumped up, scared about something he saw at the end of the cave.
"Yamask?" A Pokémon appeared, staring at them with curiosity.
The Pokémon was a Yamask, but this small black spirit didn't carry a piece of wall or a small mask with it. Instead, it carried the head of a rock totem. It was a version of the Pokémon Alexis had never seen before. He had seen the Unovan and Galarian Yamask, but this one, he did not know about.
"For Arceus," Alexis exhaled in relief seeing the small Yamask, "You scared the living crap out of me."
Without speaking, and realising they were not a threat, the small Yamask approached the group slowly. When nobody did anything to it, the small guy took something from Alexis's backpack and ran away, floating the small item further into the cave.
"Hey wait!" Alexis exclaimed in slight shock. "What are you doing?!"
With that, Alexis chased after the Yamask, running after the ghostly figure with bright teal eyes—Eevee and Sewaddle shooting after him. The more he ran after it, the more weirded out he became. The cave, which had been seemingly small from the outside, continued deeper and deeper into the hill, creating a twisting and turning path down to the depths. Until the cave stopped, that is. With his phone's flashlight as his only source of light, Alexis's eyes shot wide as he stared ahead of himself.
"What the hell..." a mutter of surprise and shock was forced out of Alexis's mouth, his brain momentarily rendered unable to process what he was seeing. Even his Pokémon looked shocked, eyes shining at the discovery.
The cave, turns out, had been the entrance to a temple. An ancient, ancient temple. The brown stone of which it was made was in a poor state, yet the symbols carved into it were clear, perfectly visible.
"Those are... Unowns," Alexis observed as he approached the carvings slowly, having almost completely forgotten about Yamask and whatever it was it had stolen from him. As Yamask appeared in his thoughts momentarily, Alexis realised something. "You wanted me to follow you."
"Yamask!" The Spirit Pokémon softly cried, confirming Alexis's conclusion. Then it turned and started floating towards what Alexis could only assume was the center of the ancient temple, so he continued to follow the Yamask.
As they walked, he started reading the Unowns carved into the walls, managing to put together a single sentence, which was repeated all over the walls that were left standing.
"When light forgets its warmth, and hope turns to ash, the sun shall weep behind stone skies. Call then the Keeper, whose wings bear dawn, lest the day never rise again."
Alexis read softly from the wall, marvelled at what he had discovered. Then he looked at the Yamask in front of him and silently thanked him in his heart, knowing it would owe it a lot.
As they finally reached the center of the ruined temple, Alexis saw exactly why Yamask had wanted him to follow it. There, in a huge pedestal, sat a huge stone totem with eyes the same colour as Yamask's and black arms coming out from its sides. It was clearly the evolved form of this Yamask, but Alexis had never seen or heard of it before.
As Alexis approached it, he could clearly see what the problem was. The Pokémon Yamask had led him to did not seem to be in a good state. It looked sickly, lacking energy. And then it dawned on him.
"You wanted me to help this guy out, right?" Alexis asked the small Yamask, which was looking at Toterigus with sadness and worry. It nodded at him, hope in its small eyes.
Alexis approached the altar and the totem-like Pokémon, but as he did so, he realised there was little to nothing he could do. The Pokémon looked at him with helplessness and acceptance. It was not going to die out because of illness or injury. It simply... was. It had reached the end of its time.
The only thing Alexis could do, was stay by their side until the time of their passing.
"Hey... I hope you are going in peace," Alexis spoke to the old Pokémon, his voice soothing and calm. The only response he got was a slow, grumbling sound. As it echoed through the walls of the temple, Yamask's lament started.
The sound was high pitched, soft, and haunting. Its sobbing cast a shadow of grief through the temple, it body falling on the ground as it stopped trying to float with the piece of totem it carried. Alexis looked at it and then at the older Pokémon, his own eyes filled with a pain that was not quite his own, just empathising with the pair. Much like him, Eevee and Sewaddle were also softly whimpering, trying to console the grief-stricken Yamask.
As Alexis looked at it, the old totem grumbled once again, this time looking at Yamask with care, and then at Alexis. There was a quiet moment of shared understanding between the two, in which they shared a wordless message.
"Don't worry," Alexis reassured the dying Pokémon, "I will take care of him in your place."
And then an rough exhale could be heard, a sound of relief, as the old Pokémon started disappearing in motes of light, leaving behind a lifeless stone totem. It had been holding on to not leave the young Yamask alone, and now that it was not, it could finally let go.
As the motes of light bathed them, falling over the group, the only sound left in the dark temple were the soft, constant sobs of Yamask.