Chapter 2: A Monster's Drive

Fleur paced up and down before the two canines in front of her—Hildegard the lucario and Bernard the lycanroc. Both of them gave her a great deal to think about in terms of what she was going to do about them.

Previously, while sage was still alive, the two had gotten in a fight in the berry fields, destroying much of the crop. With the old delphox's passing however the matter now rested entirely in Fleur's hands. The lopunny had big shoes to fill, and she honestly felt overwhelmed by it.

"Why am I even here?" Hilde snorted as she looked over at the cursed lycanroc with disgust. "We both know it was his fault the field got destroyed, and I've done my part in putting it back together."

Bernard looked at the ground in shame. He hated himself for something he had no control over, something he always seemed to have had with him, at least that's what he remembered anyhow.

"Yes, your punishment is complete," Fleur said with a bit of a huff. The lopunny and lucario had a rocky relationship to say the least, and now that Fleur was in charge, things seemed to be getting worse. "So you can drop the attitude, you're not in trouble."

Hilde was a bit taken back by this. It was a fair bit more assertiveness than she expected from the lopunny. Indeed Fleur was normally very timid, but now she seemed more like a mother scolding a child for talking back. The lucario had to admire that, using what she knew to work into her new role.

"Then why am I here then?" Hilde asked, the attitude dialed down a little now that she knew that she was not going to be blamed for the same thing a second time.

"Sage is gone. And regardless about how you felt about him, I need help until I become used to my responsibilities," Fleur said as she turned towards Bernard. "So I'm trying something new. I want you to be Bernard's mentor in the valley."

"You want what!"

Fleur giggled as both Bernard and Hilde had blurted out the exact same response at the same time. This was exactly why she had wanted to put the two together.

"I want you to be Bernard's partner. Show him around, help him with his problem if you can," Fleur said as she bent over giving Bernard a pat on the head. "I chose you for this because you've already shown that you can beat him if it comes to that."

"So you trust me then?" Hilde asked, a bit uncertain about what this turn of events meant. "You sure you don't want Sol to do this? Or Puru? They both have type advantage on him as well."

"I didn't put you in charge of this because you have a type advantage, or because you're strong," Fleur said turning to Hilde and looking her dead in the eye. "I'm putting you in charge of this to give you a chance to feel like you're a part of the community. Besides, Sol and Puru already ended up as partners."

"I think we could be good partners," Bernard said shyly, looking at Hilde with a bit of a smile.

"See? He likes you," Fleur said as she turned away. "You two take care. And let me know how things turn out for you."

Hilde watched as the bunny walked off. She somehow felt like she had been tricked into the whole affair. She had not even had a chance to say yes or no. The lucario scowled as she turned towards the forest, storming off in that direction.

Bernard was not sure what he should do now. There was little to do but to try and follow Hilde out to the forest. The rock wolf trailed a fair distance behind, not wanting to make her mad.

Neither of them said anything for a good amount of time, the lycanroc shadowing the lucario deep into the woods. Finally however, after a few miles, Hilde stopped.

"Why are you following me?" she asked with a growl. "I'm supposed to be your mentor, not your mother."

"Well," Bernard said timidly, looking down at the ground. "It was either this or go back into the cell. I don't want to be left alone."

"Why?" Hilde asked, looking at the lycanroc, studying him.

"He taunts me when I'm alone. He tells me how worthless I am, how no one will ever love me," Bernard said, tears welling up in his eyes. "He says he'll kill anyone who loves me, like how he tried to kill Plume."

"OK, OK, just stop crying," Hilde growled, trying to calm down the lycanroc. "You didn't kill her though."

"She'll never talk to me though. She's scared of me and rightfully so," Bernard moaned as he sat down, sniffling a little. "You don't know what it's like to be a monster. To kill people you love and care about. To be so very alone."

Hilde was on top of the lycanroc in a matter of moments. The lucario was extremely quick, though she might not look it, the lucario holding the lycanroc by his throat.

"What makes you think that I don't know about loss? What makes you think I like being alone?" the lucario asked, a very dangerous tone in her voice. Tossing the lycanroc to the ground, she scowled. "Some might say I'm every bit the monster you are. You're only a monster if you let yourself become one."

Bernard huddled like a beaten dog under the lucario. He was terrified of her. She clearly was a lot stronger than he was, as well as being strong against him type wise. He was not much of a fighter himself; his other side was, but he was barely able to manage it.

"W-what did you do?" the lycanroc asked. He was nervous, and did not want to upset the lucario, but he felt like he needed to ask.

"I accidentally killed my trainer," Hilde replied slowly. She did not shy away from the information, but her voice sounded distant, as if she was talking about someone else doing the act. "We were training and he was distracted, or something, he failed to block my blow. My spike went through his chest. He died almost instantly."

"Is that why you filed your spikes down?" Bernard asked, looking at the lucario and noticing that all of the metal spikes that protruded from her were filed down flat. "Did it hurt to do it, file them down?"

"It hurt a lot. I had to use a grinder I stole from a construction site," Hilde once again replied in that distant tone. "At least I only had to do it once, they won't grow back on me."

"If I could I'd take a grinder to my other half. Or anything that would let me be rid of him," Bernard said with a growl. "I used to live around humans, not like a trained pokemon, but more like a community pet I guess. Everyone loved me, gave me food, belly rubs, all the good things."

"So what happened?" the lucario asked, her curiosity peaked by the news that there was another pokemon who had interacted with humans. "You aren't there anymore, so clearly something went wrong."

"I- He, killed them all," the lycanroc said softly staring down at the ground. "The village wasn't prepared for it, and I wasn't able to stop it. No one survived, no one."

"So Plume, and what happened here wasn't the first time?" Hilde asked slowly. She was beginning to understand just what the lycanroc had to deal with.

Hilde and Bernard sat in silence for some time. Neither was sure what to say to the other, but they both were beginning to understand the other a bit better.

"Well," Hilde started, finally breaking the silence between the pair. "I think that something we can do for sure is talk to Plume."
"She's terrified of me, she'll never agree to meet me," the lycanroc complained bitterly, repeating what he had said earlier. "What good would that even do?"

"For starters, it'll help you to see you can be more than the monster you are," Hilde said, ignoring the rock wolf's complaints. "I'll be there, and I'll get Fleur to be there too. I think that if you can explain yourself a little. She might be able to forgive you. Maybe she won't, but at least you will have had a chance to tell her, and there won't be any more regrets."

"I suppose you are right," the lycanroc said, shrugging as he stood back up. "At this point I can't lose anything."

"I'll go talk with Fleur about setting this up," Hilde nodded, heading back towards the ruins she had just come from. "I'd rather you didn't come along."

"But," Bernard started, but the lucario shot him a look that said she was very serious about this. "I guess I'll go back to my cell then. I don't want to be alone."

"Whatever, I'm not your mom," Hilde said, starting off back to the central ruins.

"You want to do what?" Fleur said in disbelief, the lopunny crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"I want Bernard to have a chance to talk to Plume," Hilde said, a bit annoyed that she had to repeat herself. "Bernard isn't entirely responsible for his actions. I'm not saying he isn't dangerous, but he didn't consciously make the decision to try and kill her."

Fleur sighed, looking at the lucario. She seriously wondered what this was all about. Earlier, Hilde hardly even wanted to have anything to do with the lycanroc, and now she was trying to get him in touch with the pokemon he had tried to eat.

"He's- We just don't know enough about him, about his condition," Fleur said, turning away about to head back to her duties. "I won't risk Plume's life and that's that."

"He would have done it," Hilde replied, smirking as Fleur turned about. Hilde knew she had touched a nerve. "He would have done everything he could have to try and make things work for everyone."

"And what makes you think you know anything about him? You never even liked him," Fleur hissed, seething in rage. "You never even gave him a chance to help you. So what do you know about what he would or wouldn't do?"

"He would have done anything he needed to ease that guilty conscience of his. I still don't understand why you think he was a saint," the lucario said, pressing her advantage while she had it. "But if you are so sure that there is redemption, than why do you want to keep Bernard from it?"

"Fine!" Fleur looked like she was ready to get into a fight, but she knew better than to fight with Hilde. "I'll arrange for the two of them to meet, but it has to be supervised."

"Of course it has to be supervised," Hilde said, rolling her eyes at the bunny. "I'm not stupid, I just want him to have a chance to make things right, if he can."

Fleur looked at the lucario. This was a side of her that she really didn't get to see much of, and it made her curious. The lopunny took a deep breath to calm herself down. She knew that anger and frustration would not help the situation, and understanding was the best route.

"I want you to tell me something, Hildegard," Fleur replied, taking a far less agitated stance. "Why do you care?"

"Maybe I've got my own regrets, people I wish I'd had a chance to make things right with," Hildegard replied. "The pup at least needs to have a chance at it. He might not get anywhere with it. It'll probably blow up in his face. But that's far better than leaving it unknown."

"I think I can understand that," Fleur said, smiling a little at the lucario. "We can arrange for them to meet tomorrow before nightfall."

"I'll let him know," Hilde says, heading towards the cells in the old ruins. "He's not going to be hard to find."

Hilde sat calmly in the last warm light of the afternoon sun, the lucario breathing deeply as she meditated. The sound of the breeze filled her ears, interrupted only by the sound of paws pacing impatiently through the grass nearby.

Bernard had little of the patience or calmness of spirit that the lucario had. He was a nervous wreck, trying to figure out what he would say, how he would say it, muttering under his breath the lines that he would say.

"You should calm down," Hilde said shaking her head. "Getting yourself worked up like that isn't going to be helpful."

Bernard stopped and looked at the lucario. He was not sure how she could be so calm, especially when she was the one who set all of this up. In his mind she was just as tied into this whole affair. Should she not also be worried about it?

"Why are you so calm?" Bernard finally asked as he came and lay down next to the lucario. "What if this goes wrong? What if she won't talk to me? What if she tries to attack me? I can't fight, I don't know how."

"You won't need to fight," Hilde said with a sigh. The lucario just could not believe that this was the same individual she fought in the fields. "Things will be fine, she's not going to attack you. And even if she did, both Fleur and I will be here to keep things from getting out of control."

Bernard rested his head on his paws. There was nothing he could do but wait and worry. In the back of his mind, the gnawing, clawing, doubt was taking on a darker form.

"She hates you. I may have failed to kill her but I still took her from you," The voice was one all to familiar to the lycanroc, his other side, his darker half. "You think that they can stop me from getting to her again. I don't care if that lucario is tough, I'll kill her too."

"Shut up!" Bernard shouted, almost growling, the verbal response drawing Hilde's attention.

"I didn't say anything," the lucario growled, looking at Bernard sternly.

"Not you. Him," Bernard whined as he cowered before Hilde. "He's always there, taunting me, belittling me. Even when he doesn't have control he finds ways to ruin my life."

Hilde looked at the lycanroc incredulously. She did not believe the that the lycanroc was so completely separate from his other half that he would have actual conversations with him. The lucario closed her eyes a moment, exhaling deeply.

Bernard looked at the lucario, unsure about what she was doing, his fur standing on end, like static building all around him. He could not see what was going on, but he knew he was being affected by some unseen force.

Hilde continued to breathe deeply, the world of the aura starting to come into focus more clearly. Everything had its own aura, even the rocks, the trees, the earth itself. She could sense Plume and Fleur, well beyond the range of her sight, as they came towards the pair. She could sense Puru and Sol, both slacking off by the berry fields. She could sense the spirits that dwelled in the valley, their anger still fierce, gathered around a focal point at the far reaches of the valley, the mienshao MeiLi. Most importantly though, she could sense Bernard's aura.

It was difficult at first, the lycanroc's aura being very chaotic. It clashed and strained against itself, almost as if it were fighting. Another deep calming breath brought further clarity, as the Lucario pushed deeper into the depths of the lycanroc's aura, shutting out the world in favor of focusing on the single individual. It was a dangerous technique, one that could win or lose a fight depending on how it was used, but in this situation it offered understanding.

Bernard's aura was indeed split, constantly fighting against itself. The daytime's aura was gentle and timed, but also the more dominant, a contradiction in itself. The night's aura was violent, aggressive, forceful, and yet did not have control, as though it was added, or perhaps grafted on. The night's aura continued to exert force on the day's, never letting up for a moment. It was like a weed choking a plant, trying to get the same nutrients and sunlight.

"Hilde."

The lucario snapped out of her aura trance. The voice was one that she was familiar with, so she did not feel threatened by the intrusion, and yet it was startling all the same to be brought out of the trance.

"Hilde," Fleur said as she walked up towards the pair. "I've been calling to you for a while now. I wanted to make sure that you and Bernard were ready."

"Can I talk to you a moment," the lucario replied, looking over at the lycanroc a bit worried. "It's important."

"Should- should I call this off?" Fleur asked, looking over to Bernard. "Is this going to be dangerous?"

"No!" Bernard shouted in response, jumping up on his feet. "I need to talk to her, to apologize at least."

"I'm not worried about him," Hilde said with a small frown at the reaction. She had hoped that the lycanroc would have had more restraint. "I'm more convinced than ever he didn't do anything."

"Are you saying that he isn't the creature that attacked her?" Fleur said incredulously, the lopunny folding her arms impatiently. "And just how did you come by this revelation?"

"Aura," Hilde said simply.

"Aura?" Fleur said skeptically, she looked as though she was just going to leave. "And you're going to tell me that sage, who was psychic, didn't know about this, but you by some miracle can because of mystical energy fields."

"What makes you think he didn't know?" Hilde questioned, fighting back the urge to punch Fleur in her smug mouth. "I'm certain he did, but he doesn't strike me as someone to talk about other pokemon's problems."

Fleur sighed. She knew that Hilde was probably right about that. Her master would only talk about the problems of others if they were directly a concern to the safety of the valley. He had very little time to look into Bernard's condition, but he would have known at least whether or not the lycanroc was in control of his decisions.

"So what do you want to talk to me about then?" Fleur said, looking over at the lycanroc with a bit of suspicion.

"I want you to know," the lucario said with a bit of a frown. "Whatever happens tonight, he's not the problem. His other half is something he has no control over."

"Even if that's the case, he is still dangerous," Fleur said, her hands on her hips. "Whether he intends to harm someone, or does so without making the choice to do, if he's a threat he will have to be dealt with."

"You know, I think I can agree with you on one thing," Hilde said motioning for Bernard to follow him.

"And what is that?"

"That old devil died far too soon," Hilde said with a bit of a growl.

Fleur wanted to say something, but she knew it would not help. Hildegard had little respect for authority, and actually she was getting a fair bit better treatment than the old delphox ever had. Still those words hurt far more than she had thought they would.

Hilde watched as the Lycanroc ambled into the small glade that had been set aside for the meeting. It was a quiet place, far from the main gathering areas, the shade of the trees falling long in the setting sun.

Plume was already there, staring at the ground. She did not seem to be overly keen to be there. Hilde could not say she blamed her. She was not sure just how much the quilava knew about her attacker.

Bernard was not exactly making his own case. He too kept looking down at the ground guiltily. The rock dog made it very hard to even get the conversation going. The awkward silence between the two was broken only by the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees, and the occasional cry of a flying type pokemon.

"Oh for the love of Arceus, say something!" Hilde snapped, giving the lycanroc a rather firm tap on his head.

"You leave him alone you big bully," Plumed replied, almost in tears, the fire type nervously making her way over to Bernard. "It's- It's ok that you weren't there to protect me. I'm just glad you're safe."

Hilde groaned at the response, not so much for being called a bully- she was OK with that- but what the quilava assumed had happened. This definitely was not going to end well.

"I-I was there," Bernard stuttered, finally finding enough courage to at least speak. "I wanted to help, but I couldn't. More than anything I wanted to help you, but I wasn't strong enough to."

"I'm sure you did your best. We're just lucky that somehow it spat me back out," the quilava said with a little smile. "If you like, Fleur, she gave me a little place to stay, you could come stay with me."

Hilde had thought that the silence before had been awkward, but with those words Bernard's silence became outright unbearable. The lucario waited as patiently as she could for the rock dog to say something, anything.

"You've got to tell her, you know that right," the lucario finally said, breaking the silence of the evening. "We're running out of time for this as is. Tell her the truth, and I'll make sure you get back to your cell."

"Cell!" The worry in Plume's voice said it all, she still had no idea that the creature that attacked her and Bernard were one and the same. "You will do no such thing. Bernard isn't a criminal! You heard him, he tried to help!"

"Um, Plume," Fleur tried to cut in, but the quilava was having none of it.

"I won't let you treat him like a criminal! I won't!" Plume shouted angrily, her flames sprouting from her back.

"The monster is me!" Everything went quiet once again. All eyes turned to Bernard, the lycanroc crying as he was forced to admit what was going on.

Hilde let out a long sigh. This was the truth that needed to be spoken, but it was the truth that no one really wanted to have to say. Even Fleur looked like a dirty personal secret had just been aired in front of hundreds, and there was no way to take it back.

"Wh- What did you say?" Plume asked, all the anger in her voice now replaced with quivering fear. "No, NO! That isn't true! That's not possible!"

"Now, Plume, we don't know exactly what's going on with-" Fleur tried to start, but the quilava was having none of it.

Plume bolted from the glade, tears welling up in her eyes, a small scorched path of grass making it obvious which way she was running.

"Plume, come back!" Bernard said, leaping onto he feet, about to follow only to be grabbed by Hilde. "Let me go! I have to tell her!"

"You can't," Hilde said, her voice stern but full of caring. "You know you can't. It's to close too nightfall."

"But," Bernard said, looking off after the ever dimming flame as it disappeared into the distance. "I'm- I'm sorry Plume."

Bernard hung his head in shame. Hilde held him only a bit longer, until Plume was completely out of sight. The lucario let the lycanroc down.

"I'm going to take Bernard to the cell for the night," Hilde said slowly, looking to Fleur. "Maybe, you can go talk to her, when she calms down."

"Yeah, don't worry," Fleur said, looking down at the very heartbroken and crestfallen Bernard. "I'll let her know you didn't mean it, Bernard, I promise."

Hilde walked silently a ways with Bernard, the two of them quiet as they treaded in the slowly setting sun. Hilde looked around warily, as if some unseen danger was upon them, Bernard starring at his feet as they walked.

So engrossed was the lycanroc, that he had not even noticed that Hilde had taken them down a different pathway than the one that lead to the makeshift prison and his cell.

The pathway that Hilde led them on was one she knew well enough. She wandered the outskirts of Sanctuary, looking for solace from those other residents, and in those wanderings she had discovered many secret and hidden places, places where one could go and see no one else.

Eventually the lucario came to a stop, the last glimmers of the sun setting over the mountains giving off an ominous red light. The moon rose in opposition, its pale silver light slowly becoming the only source of light to be seen.

It was only at the dwindling light that Bernard even noticed that they were nowhere near the cells. The lycanroc looking around wildly in terror as he knew that he would be out in the open.

"How could you do this?" the lycanroc shouted at Hilde. "I'm out in the open, he'll get out, he'll kill Plume, he'll kill you!"

"Maybe," Hilde said shrugging, the lucario showing very little worry about the unfolding situation. "But I have some questions you can't answer, and I'm in a bad mood to begin with, so win-win."

Bernard whimpered, the fear building in him, fear of the beast that soon would be unleashed. The whimpers though soon gave way to savage snarls, the cracking and snapping of bones, the tearing of flesh and sinew.

Hilde watched the transformation, unflinching even in the face of such horrifying sights. She could not help but think that she had seen more terrifying things when she lived with her old team. Shard, her weavile teammate, especially could be quite the beast in the morning.

As the final phases of the transformation began to play out, the lycanroc's fur darkening to a deep red, Hilde took up a fighting stance. The lupine creature standing before her growled in defiance, drool dripping from its maw.

"Well come on then," Hilde said, cracking her knuckles with a smile on her face. "We don't have all night."

There was a piercing howl that split the night air. Bernard's darker half charged at the lucario. A whirlwind of diamond hard claws and teeth slashed and gnashed at the lucario.

Hilde was surprised at the speed and ferocity of the beastly pokemon. The lucario had to keep on her toes just to avoid the constant barrage of attacks. Each blow was dodged, deflected, or blocked, slowly whittling down both her own and her opponent's stamina. She could only hope that her deep reserves would be enough.

A decisive blow to the lycanroc's skull by the lucario brought the fight to a brief pause. Both combatants breathed heavily as they looked each other in the eye. Neither of them moved, both sizing the other up.

It was Bernard that blinked first, knowing that he was far outclassed by the lucario in terms of raw power. The crimson canine attempted to break from the fight, heading back towards the center of Sanctuary.

Hilde was having none of this though, the lucario dashing after the lycanroc with extreme speed. Bernard would not even know what was about to hit him as the blur of blue rammed into him, toppling him over with a yelp of pain.

The pair of them scuffled in the dirt, rocks and dirt flying about as the midnight lycanroc tried to shake the lucario off the top of him. Hilde, however, had expected this wild struggle. The lucario putting her full weight down onto the lycanroc.

"Yield!" Hilde growled, Her full body weight pressing down onto the lycanroc's back. "You've got no chance of beating me."

"I'll beat you, I'll kill you, I'll spread your innards all over this pathetic little sanctuary," Bernard growled, pressing hard to try and get up. "Then I'll go after your loved ones, his loved ones, anyone I can to hurt him."

"And that," Hilde said with a smirk, letting up a little on the pinned wolf. "Was exactly what I wanted to know."

"WHAT!" Bernard's darker half snapped, the lycanroc still trying to break free, but finding little success. "I just told you I'm going to kill you, what do you mean it's exactly what you wanted to know?"

"I know you talk," Hilde said as she let the lycanroc back up. "And so I now can find out what, or who you are."

"I'm Bernard," The crimson canine laughed, picking itself up off of the ground. "Aren't I just so pathetic, so cowardly? it's all an act."

"No," Hilde said with a flatness that took the lycanroc by surprise. "Even now I can sense his aura, suppressed, but you're not the same being. So don't lie to me, who are you?"

"I don't remember for sure," the crimson canine growled, turning away from the intense stare of the lucario. "I've been a part of him so long, most of before is gone."

"Before?" Hilde asked, her interest now peaked. "Before what?"

"Why should I tell you?" The dark creature snarled, slashing at the lucario with diamond hard claws.

Hilde grabbed Bernard's paw in her own, twisting hard, forcing the midnight lycanroc to his knees, howling in pain.

"Because if you don't," Hilde replied, her voice still dispassionate, almost cold, the lucario applying pressure to the paw of the lycanroc. "I'll break your arm."

"You'll hurt him too," the cursed creature yelled, unable to break away without hurting himself a great deal. "You're all too soft, you'll never hurt an innocent."

"That old delphox probably wouldn't have, even though he was a murderer. Fleur wouldn't either, since she wants to live up to his memory," Hilde said with a cruel smirk, bending Bernard's arm just a little more. "But I'm not one of them, and I don't mind breaking his paw to make you talk."

The crimson lupine squirmed in the grip of the lucario. He did not want to tell her anything that he didn't have to, but she had him in a bind, both literally and figuratively. He saw no other option than to tell her what she wanted to know.

"I made a deal with a witch," the lycanroc whimpered. "I wanted to never have to see my brother again. She made it happen, but it wasn't how I wanted."

"What witch?" Hilde asked, exerting just a little more pressure on the lycanroc. "What did she do?"

"Please, please, let me go! I'll talk!" The dark lycanroc begged, on his shedding croconaw tears. "Anything you want, no fight!"

"The witch, the deal, details, now," Hilde said, letting up a little on his arm. "You tell me what I want, and I'll let go. Lie to me, cause me trouble, and I'll break your arm."

"I don't know her name! It was a silver coated Delphox!" The wolf-like pokemon screamed, well aware at this point Hilde meant every word she said. "I tried to get her to get rid of Bernard. She cast a spell that made it so we never have to see each other again, but it made us one!"

"What did she get out of it?" Hilde asked, once again letting up just a little. "How was it done?"

"I don't know, there was a black crystal. It was huge, she was talking to it, then there was a flash," the midnight lycanroc explained, no longer in such pain. "After that, I only come out at night, only during the week leading up to, and during the full moon."

Hilde tossed the lycanroc to the ground. The lucario stood above him menacingly, her face now showing all the emotions she had been hiding: anger, disgust, disappointment. It was clear though she had no love for this creature.

"Go to the cell, lock yourself up," Hilde said with a scowl, her aura becoming visible in her anger. "Deviate from the path even a little, and you'll wish the witch had just killed you."

"Y- yes," the lycanroc said slinking away slowly, his face bore a slightly maniacal toothy grin, though his nervousness showed through. "Where are you going, if not with me?"

Hildegard did not answer. She turned slowly from the lycanroc, heading towards the central compound. The lucario's blazing aura was visible from just about any point in the valley as she marched towards Fleur's residence.

"What in the world were you thinking?" Fleur's voice pierced the calm of the morning, startling awake several nocturnal pokemon nearby. "He could have killed Plume, not to mention gone on a rampage through the entire area!"

"I beat him before," Hilde shrugged, not letting Fleur's emotional outburst get to her. "I mean I do have type advantage, and probably experience on him as well."

"Did it ever cross your mind that the first place he went on a rampage was the human ruins," Fleur said, pacing back and forth. "Where that- that thing was! She was more than capable of killing Master Ignatius, and held Sol, Puru, and myself off with no effort, and in a weakened state!"

"I beat her too didn't I?" The lucario asked smugly, though the look on Fleur's face told her that might be a bit too far. "OK, we beat her."

"You sucker punched her and gave us an opening," Fleur clarified, her face frowning in disapproval. "I'm not saying it wasn't impressive, because without you we would have been killed for sure. But we were very lucky there, all of us. Had she been at full power I doubt very much even that would have stopped her."

"We're getting off topic here," Hildegard grunted, the lucario not starting to feel just a little underappreciated. "What did the old phox tell you about the witch?"

"Honestly not much. He told me about what he did, and why she hated him. He told me a little of what she was capable of," Fleur said with a small bit of hesitation, the lopunny clearly not wanting to discuss such matters. "I mean you worked for her, surely you must know more about her than me."

"I only met her twice," Hildegard growled, the lucario clearly displeased at that subject being brought up. "Once when I first met her, and once when I left. In both cases there wasn't a Q and A."

"No, I imagine she doesn't talk much about herself," the lopunny said with a bit of a frown. "Still I don't know much about her capabilities, other than she was at least as powerful as Master was, though dedicated entirely to destruction."

"Do you have any idea about the black crystal?" Hilde asked, her mood once again more investigative. "Did the old phox ever mention anything like that?"

"No. MeiLi might have known, she was more into the occult teachings," Fleur said, her tone becoming very much disgusted as she talked about the Mienshao. "But, I don't know where she's at, or even if she's still in the valley."

"She is," Hilde said, turning away from the rabbit. "But, I don't think I very much want to go talk to her either. Anyone else who might know about the witch?"

"It would seem you, Bernard, and the vaporeon that stopped Ingrid from getting to Master's body on the night of the attack are the only ones with direct contact with her," Fleur said with a frown. "Other than perhaps some of Malgam's soldiers, but none of them are around to ask."

"Well, it's a start anyhow," Hilde said with a bit of a grimace. "I'll look into the vaporeon I guess. We'll probably be having another conversation like this soon."

"Will you at least talk to me before you do something stupid and dangerous next time?" Fleur asked the lucario, her voice full of exasperation.

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Hilde said with a small chuckle. "But we'll see."

Hilde made her way down the deep water pond near the waterfall. The lucario knew full well that this was by and far the favorite spot of the water types of the sanctuary to gather. If she was going to find the vaporeon, this was the place to start.

Finding a rock nearby, the lucario sat down, breathing deeply to begin her meditations. She intended to use her aura sense to find the vaporeon, but it seemed that fate had other ideas in store.

"I'm kind of surprised that you're actually here." A voice sounded from behind the lucario, startling her slightly. "I thought it was just a dream, but maybe there's something more to it."

Hilde turned around, the lucario more than a little shocked to see the vaporeon she was looking for sitting down, waiting for her it seemed.

"What do you mean thought it was a dream?" Hildegard asked, her eyes locked on the vaporeon. "How did you know I was going to come here?"

"Not only come here, but looking for me too," The vaporeon said with a bit of sadness in his voice. "I don't know exactly, I saw it in my dream. A familiar voice told me you needed my help, and that I should meet you here."

"The witch?" Hilde asked, her instincts now in full alert. "Did she know I was coming to find you? Is she still in your head?"

"No, she never was," the vaporeon said, looking down in shame. "I did everything she asked of me freely, of my own will."

"Then how?" Hildegard said with a deep frown. "How did you know I was coming here? The only thing I can figure is that we've both served under her."

"We have another thing in common," The vaporeon said, a little bit more hope in his voice. "He was in both our heads as well."

"He? Who's he-" Hildegard stopped, a sudden dawning of realization sweeping over her. "That old phox? That's who you mean isn't it?"

"Yes, though I can't be sure," the vaporeon said, his eyes looking at the lucario in such a way that it almost made her uncomfortable. "Hilde, your friends are looking for you."

"What friends?" the lucario asked, the stare of the vaporeon getting ever more on her nerves. His eyes almost seemed to glow with an uncomfortably familiar golden light. "Who are you talking about?"

Her answer never came though, the glow fading almost as quickly as it was there. The vaporeon shok his head a little.

"That was weird," The fishy water-type said, his head in his forepaws. "It was like I wasn't even in my own body there for a second."

Hilde stood up without saying a word. Her face was deeply troubled, the words of the vaporeon weighing heavily on her mind.