Please don't kill me for hiatus. Busy as hell. No time to write, lost first draft, computer crashed. Had to write it all over again in addition to getting not so nice messages... I really like this one, though, but I'llhave to be casual about updates.

Daniel was exhausted the next morning, not only had his internal clock awakened him at the crack of dawn, but he'd hardly been able to sleep at all due to a deep, looming sense of foreboding. He felt like something bad was going to happen. He had all morning to stew over what that feeling could be. He got up quietly, though by the way Lovino was sleeping, he wouldn't wake up before noon if left alone. A little noise probably wouldn't wake him, but better safe than sorry. He looked out the window fondly, watching the rising sun dye the clouds orange and pink. He had definitely done this before. He was certain of that now, though he still couldn't remember. Amnesia was irritating to deal with.

He looked back over at Lovino's sleeping form, he still looked exhausted from the battle with the Golurk yesterday. It probably wasn't the best idea to go on another exploration today. He smiled ever so slightly at him. 'Well I can always sort that out...' he thought to himself, 'he's really nice despite all the curse words he uses, and he's the only one here that I can consider a friend. I... I don't think that means I like him that way, but with the way things are going, I'm not opposed to it.. What am I thinking. I'm a Human. Or at least I was. He probably doesn't feel anything beyond friendship for me anyway. I'm over thinking things, surely. But if he did reciprocate, then wha-'

"Good morning, Team Daybreak." Chatot greeted, pulling Daniel out of his thoughts, "I suspect that you are both very tired from yesterday's exploration, so the Guild master requested that you two take the day off to spend resting or however you wish." Chatot nodded in Lovino's direction, signaling that Daniel should tell him once he woke up. Not that Daniel needed to be told. The possibilities exploded in Daniel's mind for how they could spend the day, but only one option stuck out. 'Okay, so who should I ask. Surely there are suitable date locations around here somewhere... woah, don't get ahead of yourself. This won't be a date. He probably doesn't like you like that. He's a guy, you're a guy, the chances are slim.' He mentally reminded. He sighed, grabbing the treasure bag and wonder map before walking into the main part of the guild.

He looked around, feeling very uncomfortable about asking complete strangers for advice, especially about something so... personal. He's only known them for a day, tops. Not to mention how crowded it was.. no. He was doing this for Lovino. He could do this.

He went up to Chimecho and Sunflora nervously, looking between them trying not to look too freaked out at the moment. It didn't work well, since Chimecho, the first to notice him, asked, "Are you okay, Daniel? You look frightened, did something happen?"

Daniel shook his head no, "I.. Wanted to ask something..."

"Oh my gosh! What is it?" Sunflora replied, smile ever present on her face.

"If.. You like someone... Where would you take them, for lack of a better word... On a date?" he asked softly, mentally kicking himself for wording it like that.

"Who is the lucky pokemon?" Chimecho asked happily, finding It cute how flustered Daniel was getting.

Daniel looked away in embarrassment, "F-forget it."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. There's a lake to the south east of here. It's called Fogbound Lake. We went there on an expedition once, and the geysers were beautiful... Of course, there are many other places that are romantic and pretty."

He looked interested in knowing more options, mainly because Lovino was a fire type and somehow he doubted he'd like lakes near as much. He started to doubt himself again, thinking that maybe he should wait to do something like this until he knew more about him. The only thing that really kept him from doing so was the fact that they may not have another free day any time soon. That and the fact he was still hopeful that his maybe feelings would be reciprocated because he really wanted to avoid unrequited feelings for some reason.. Probably something to do with his past that he still didn't remember. He began to connect some dots from his behavior and tendencies, 'Okay, so, I avoid talking to others, so I was probably Antisocial before, but as for a reason..? Possibly my aversion to negative feelings in others has to do with that. I always seem to dislike when people yell at me or are upset. Maybe I try not to talk to others for fear of disappointing them? Sounds about right.' He only realized he had been completely ignoring Chimecho, who was still describing possible date locations.

"- and there are these gigantic crystals everywhere inside the cave. There's another lake down there, too. The crystals there are especially beautiful, in my opinion..." she continued going on, but the wistful look she had on made it sound more like she wanted someone to take her there rather than suggest it to someone else for their own date. Daniel made marks on the Wonder Map regardless, maybe Lovino liked crystals. He wasn't certain.

"I'll consider them. Is there anywhere else I can ask around for places?" He asked, a little tired of her long winded tirades about places she'd want to go on dates. He didn't want to sound rude, though, so he tried to phrase it politely.

"Treasure Town is always a good place to start. There are a lot of nice pokemon that live there." She replied cheerfully, unaware that she'd been brushed off.

The foreboding feeling that kept Daniel from sleeping returned again and he looked around cautiously. No one suspicious yet... Nothing looks dangerous.. Maybe he was overreacting. Nonetheless, he exited the guild to check out this 'Treasure Town' everyone was talking about. It was really, very crowded, which made him even more nervous than before. He really didn't know these pokemon. And there were a lot more out here than inside the guild. How was he supposed to do this...

As he pondered the answer to a seemingly pointless struggle, he neglected to notice the brown and cream mass of fur barreling toward him. "No turning back now. I have to do this for Lovin-ah!" He yelped softly as Ruka pounced on him and knocked his Wonder Map out of his paws.

"Oi!" She chimed happily, batting at his black appendages, "Daniel~ what'cha doin'?" She asked mischievously. She smiled when she saw the Wonder Map on the ground and hopped off Daniel, unrolling the map and looking at the markings, "Fogbound Lake, Crystal Crossing, Darkness Ridge, Frigid Cavern, Mt. Moon Veiw, Mystic Lake, Scorched Plains, Sky Blue Plains, why did you choose these places?.." something seemed to click as soon as she said that, and she smiled, "Oooh! Are you finally going to ask him out!?" She squealed happily, "I'm so happy for you two!"

"I.. no we aren't.." Daniel tried to tell her that it wasn't a date and he wasn't going to ask, but it wouldn't come out loud enough to be heard over her fussing.

Kouki came seemingly out of nowhere and chuckled, "all those places are popular date locations, you expect us not to think that?"

"Well your list is incomplete!" Ruka insisted, "You didn't add the beach that is just south of the crossroads, Crystal Lake, or Beach Cave's pit!"

"Ruka, those places are only very special to us." Kouki reminded.

"Pretty is pretty, Kouki." She pouted, "And those places are very pretty."

"I.. don't think he'd like that.." Daniel murmured, "He's a Fire-Type. I don't think he'd like lakes and water and stuff..." He reasoned.

"True, I didn't think of that.." Kouki nodded, thinking over what places didn't revolve around water.

"Well, they could always go to Sky Peak. The dungeon is pretty easy, and you can take the Gondola most of the way up. It's both mild training and a great date location. Since we cleared up the Muk and Grimer problem, the flowers have flourished and the veiw is incredible." Ruka said, smiling.

"That's a great idea! I don't know anyone who doesn't like Sky Peak!" Kouki said in agreement, marking it on the map for him.

"That sounds like a good place, actually. Do you have a photo of it?" Daniel asked softly.

"What's a photo?" Kouki asked, looking confused, whereas Ruka froze and stared at him.

"What.. did I say something wrong..?" He asked, half whispering because of how uncomfortable her stare was making him.

"You're a human, aren't you? Photos are things from the human world." Ruka said simply, still looking at him.

"I .. how..." He was getting almost scared now, he didn't know how she knew that, or how he had let something like that slip without realizing it. Honestly he didn't know where he got the word from, or how he then knew what it was. He blamed his shotty memory.

"I was human once too. That's how I know." She said, suddenly out of character from what he was used to. Kouki didn't seem to think that, though.

"Really? Another human-turned-pokemon? Do you think something bad is going to happen?" Kouki looked concerned about the situation, but was used to her behavior doing a 180 when the atmosphere turned serious.

Ruka looked him over and scrutinized his expression. "My guess is that he lost his memory. If he knew something useful, it's gone now. May as well search around for abnormalities." Ruka said to herself. "Anyway, no, we don't have a picture of it. It's perfect, though, so that's my suggestion." She smiled happily at him, her façade back in place.

"Um.. o-okay.." He took back the map and he got that feeling of being watched again. He looked around cautiously and looked a bit worried. 'Why do I keep feeling like that.. No one is around, right?' He gripped the map a little harder than intended and nodded silently to them, excusing himself.

Ruka watched him go with a smile, "he's a sharp one. He knew she was there. I don't think he is quite good enough to beat her yet. Get in touch with those three. They've been itching for something to do, ne?"

Kouki smiled, "Alyssia is at it again, hm? Someone really wants the humans out of here. It feels like more and more are popping up, too.."

"Too true. And something goes wrong every time.. with us it was the time problems, I remember there was one beforehand that had to deal with a meteor. Ever since Tsuneo came there have been more than a few people-pokemon around. What bothers me is that sometimes they remember, and sometimes they don't. Does that mean that they come through different means? I'm not sure what to think about that..." Ruka looked off thoughtfully, "anyway, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." She started to walk away, but Kouki caught her shoulder, "Ruka... If we help fix all this again.. do you think... Will you..."

"Kouki, did those three months without me really affect you that badly? You ask that whenever something like this happens, and my answer is always the same." She turned and hopped up on her back legs to look him in the eyes, her front paws on his shoulders to keep herself steady, "I will never leave you, even if I disappear physically. Our bond is too strong for that." She hopped back down and headbutted his side gently, "You really are such a worrywart, Kouki."

***back to Daniel***

He had hurried back inside, thankful that he hadn't actually had to go into town. He ducked into the Apprentices' rooms and went all the way to the end of the hall to his and Lovino's room. He was still on edge, but pushed it aside as being nervousness. He erased the other marks on their map so that he could play up the ignorant act if he had to.. Surely Lovino already knew about this place if it was so popular and pretty. He sighed slightly as he walked in. Lovino was still sleeping peacefully. He felt bad about waking him up, honestly. He probably would have liked to sleep in if he were able to. Alas, internal alarms were a thing. He put a paw on Lovino's back and shook him gently. Daniel cracked a small smile when he growled in his sleep and flicked his tail. Lovino was cute when he was angry.

He let out a soft gasp as a small memory came back to him.

"Daniel?.. Daniel! Hello, guitar bastard, are you listening to me?" The voice was very familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. It was a vague, almost hollow imitation of the voice that his mind was replaying, it must be an old memory, he couldn't even see anything..

"..." Silence, yet he knew that he should be saying something. He had a horrible empty feeling in his heart like someone had cut half of it out.

"I'm talking to you, here! This isn't like you.." the voice went from mildly annoyed to worried in two seconds. He still couldn't see anything.

"She's gone..." His eyes opened in the memory and he could now see the other person, who had dark red-brown hair, an odd curl sticking out of the fringe and parted on the side. His eyes were a firey amber, and he was very familiar. He couldn't remember for the life of him who it was, yet he knew that he was very important to him.

"What? She who- wait you don't mean.." shock crossed over the other's face, he knew that he knew already what happened, and couldn't help a little bit of irritation that this memory was so cryptic. What happened? That would bother him.

"Dakota... She... And Ivan... Gone..." Dakota? Ivan? He's heard those names before.. why was it that this made him so.. depressed. What happened? No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get himself to remember more.

"Daniel?" Lovino asked, making Daniel jolt, "Sorry, you looked like you were in pain, are you okay?" Daniel nodded in response, trying to get that memory out of his mind. Figures the first thing he remembers is useless and upsetting.. Not that he expected anything else.

"Well if you say so.. what time is it? Shouldn't we hurry?" Lovino said, thinking that it was still a work day. Daniel shookhis head, though, "Guildmaster gave us the day off. And actually.." He looked of to the side nervously, "I, uh kinda chose a nice place for us to spend it..."

Lovino wasn't sure what to be more surprised about, the fact they'd gotten a day off or the fact that Daniel would have had to socialize in order to find a good place to go. Probably the Daniel thing, but seriously, a day off!?

Daniel shifted awkwardly, "Um.. Lovino?"

"I- oh sorry! Yeah, where are we going?" Lovino asked, getting over his momentary shock in order to respond.

"A place called Sky Peak. Ruka said that it was a pretty easy dungeon and that the peak itself was nice, so.."

"Sounds good to me, when do we leave?" Lovino shook out his fur, stretching as well, since he had only just woken up.

"Whenever you want. It's not a problem, really." Daniel shrugged,

"Let's go now, then!" Lovino smiled slightly.

He looked excited, which was good, Daniel decided. He hadn't said anything about it being a date.. which it wasn't! Maybe he was delusional. The sooner they leave, the better. He would go crazy after too long..

"Um Lovino?" He asked before he could stop himself, "have you ever been on a date before?"

Lovino was surprised by the question, and a little embarrassed by the answer, "No, I've never been on a date before. I've never been asked."

"Oh.." Daniel murmured vaguely, he couldn't be sure that he hadn't, but felt like he hadn't. It was probably just because he had lost his memory, but either way.

"Why'd you ask?" Lovino asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"This is pretty close to a date, er the place, I mean... I was curious." He said softly, leading him out of the guild and to the crossroads, looking at the map before heading off to Sky Peak. Regardless of how far it looked to be on the map, it took almost no time at all to get to the base of the mountain. Daniel would have had to have been painfully blind in order to miss the purple ghost type pokemon among all the small green Shaymin. He assumed, since it was a large balloon-looking pokemon, that this is the one that would take them through most of the dungeon? 'Wait, the hell is a balloon?'He tilted his head at his own thoughts as Lovino conversed with the small pokemon around them. He noticed when Lovino came back around, he had a pink flower fastened on his bandana. Daniel smiled at him softly, it was rather cute.

"Ah, yeah, " Lovino said when he noticed what he was looking at, "one of the Shaymin gave it to me. They called it a Gracidea. It also said something about the flowers changing a Shaymin's appearance, but to be honest, I just think it looks nice.."

Daniel smiled, "it looks good on you." He murmured, stroking one of the petals gently with his paw. He didn't understand why this action made Lovino blush, or maybe it was what he said? Nah.

"Are you ready to go?" Daniel asked, anxious to see the top himself. The description he had been given wasn't the best by a long shot, but this little village was quaint enough, he wouldn't mind if the top looked similar to this.

"Ah, y-yeah. I'm ready." Lovino stuttered slightly, walking with Daniel over to the Drifblim.

"Hi! This is Drifblim's Gondola. Where would you like to go?" The Drifblim asked in a friendly tone, "2nd station clearing, 4th station clearing, or 6th station clearing?"

Daniel looked over at Lovino, letting him decide what he thought they could handle.

Lovino thought for a moment, "I'm still really tired from yesterday, so... 6th station clearing?" He looked at Daniel for confirmation, who nodded in reply.

"6th station clearing? Alright." The Drifblim moved out of the way and revealed a basket, much like the ones on hot air balloons, but made out of a wood like material. It also had four wooden pegs sticking up out of it. Lovino didn't seem at all shocked, but Daniel had never seen such an odd thing like it before and tilted his head. The Drifblim smiled kindly at them and opened the door to the 'gondola' for them and allowed them to enter the basket. Once they were both inside, the Drifblim hovered over them and wrapped it's ribbon-like appendages around the wooden pegs firmly.

"Now... Here we go!" The kind Drifblim called as he lifted off the ground with them in tow in the basket. Daniel refused to move an inch once they lifted off and spazzed out when the basket lurched. Lovino, again, didn't seem to have a problem with it, but Daniel was now contemplating having a fear of heights, or maybe just of flying. At least when you're up high, you normally have something firm under your feet.

Daniel was extremely relieved once they hit solid ground, and hurried out of the basket. No more gondolas for him. No. He was fucking done with that.

Lovino chuckled slightly at Daniel's reaction to the gondola and looked around the station clearing. It was white stone cliffs all around, and because of how high up they were, it was a little harder to breathe, as well as quite cold. Not that it really bothered him that much. There were little things here and there, boxes of supplies for passing teams, pots of water, a Kangaskhan rock for storing items, exploring basics. It seemed like this 'date' would be more of an adventure than he expected.

Daniel approached the path ahead of them once Lovino had taken in the surroundings, "we should get going before it gets dark.." He said to Lovino.

"I know. Let's go." Lovino smiled and walked in with him.

7th Station Pass

The air around them got cold very quickly, and snow showed up in abundance once they got past a certain point. It melted on contact with Lovino, but Daniel was having a harder time with it. His natural sense of direction helped quite a bit in this instance, since it meant that they'd be through it faster, but that didn't mean that it was going to be pleasent...

XxX

"Daniel! Are you okay?" Lovino looked very concerned about him after he had been thrown back by the aftermath of a Skuntank. He was pretty badly injured, but it was nothing that couldn't be walked off. He'd be fine after a while, as long as it didn't begin to hail.

"Don't worry about me, Lovino, I'll be fine. Are you okay?"

"I'm not the one who's hurt, dumb ass!" Lovino hissed, but it was more out of concern than an insult. Daniel was pleased that he could tell that.

XxX

Daniel smiled at Lovino when they made it through to the 7th Station clearing. He spent a few minutes making sure that Lovino was alright before resting for a while. He had taken quite a bit of damage in there, but that was mostly due to the fact that he had fought most of the enemies, having not wanted Lovino to get hurt unnecessarily. Once he got back up, it was time to move on to the next Station Pass. There was still quiet a lot of snow on the ground, which didn't bode well for him, as he was already freezing. The scarf honestly helped a lot more than he expected it to, which he was grateful for.

8th Station Pass

Daniel couldn't see a thing through the falling snow, the wind whipping it around at such a high speed, everything appeared white.

"Lovino? Are you there?" He called, unable to see even his companion.

He felt warm fur brush his side, and smiled at Lovino, who had come up beside him so that they wouldn't lose each other.

XxX

The next floor didn't have such bad snow, thankfully, but the snow was trecherously high, it was only to Daniel's thighs, but it was to Lovino's chest, making him have to hop around in order to move. Daniel smiled at the display, but knew that it would take them forever if he did that the entire time, so Daniel picked Lovino up and carried him through the snow.

Lovino blushed, but didn't object to being held for once.

XxX

The 8th Station clearing was delightfully warm thanks to the fire in the center, provided by the Ampharos that lived there. Daniel set Lovino down by the fire. Which Lovino seemed happy about, but he kept close to Daniel, since if he was cold, it must be a lot worse for Daniel. The Ampharos saw that they were taken care of, which was a steep improvement from the last Station clearing, which was completely empty. They had spent quite a bit of time scaling the mountain, and they were on a bit of a time schedule, since they wanted to make it before dark, so they did have to leave soon after they'd rested.

9th Station Pass

Fortunately for them both, the 9th pass was through a cave, So they didn't have to deal with the snow and cold outside, though it was still chilly in the cave. The terrain turned into crag as theywent, and they ended up at the 9th clearing with no trouble.

"This should be the last pass. One of the Shaymin said that the 10th clearing was the summit." Lovino said, looking around the empty clearing, "we're almost there, let's get going." Lovino said, looking up at him.

Sky Peak Summit Pass

The pokemon of these parts were exceptionally agitated for some reason and refused to leave them alone for the entire journey. The Ursaring were especially bad, though it was winter, someone must have woken them from their hibernation to make them this angry.

Lovino looked through their treasure bag and smiled, "we've sure collected a lot of useful items around this place."

"Mm." Daniel hummed thoughtfully, continuing to move, "lots of money as well. I think that the guild is completely justified to take some of our earnings if this is what we get from regular dungeons."

"Yeah... But Chatot didn't have to be so rude!" Lovino huffed.

"Agreed."

Daniel yelped in surprise as the floor under him collapsed and revealed a set of stairs.

"Holy shit, is this what I think it is?" Lovino said in shock, looking at the stairs. "Let's go down there, I want to see what it is."

Daniel nodded and moved out of the way so that Lovino could enter first, since he was so eager. Lovino smiled happily when he realized it was exactly what he thought it was. He had heard rumors of the secret bazaar before, but had never seen one before now. He would have loved to stay longer, but he was starting to get very impatient about reaching the summit, since they were almost there.

Sky Peak Summit

All breath left Lovino upon leaving the cave. The summit was gorgeous, the same pink flowers as the one he was wearing coated the ground. The air was warmer than he expected, and he could see the clouds below the summit of the mountain. It was all so beautiful. Looking up, he could see that the sun hadn't completely set yet, but it was just dark enough to see the stars in the darkening sky. He looked at Daniel when he put an arm around him.

"Daniel, it's beautiful.. I love it up here." Lovino smiled as he looked at the scenery. The hills and rocks were covered in plush grass and moss, but he just couldn't believe all this had grown on a mountain of all things. It was the last place he would think that a verdant place like this would be.

Daniel, however, while equally as taken aback by the beautiful scenery, was more focused on the feeling of dread that had surfaced with a vengeance. Something was not right. He looked around cautiously, pushing Lovino behind him slightly when he heard a twig snap.

"Daniel? What are you doing?" Lovino asked, noting that Daniel seemed edgy, and not at all like how he'd been on the trip up the mountain.

"Hide.." He said, looking at the area the sound had come from with a frown.

"What? Why?" Lovino protested, looking around for a reason why Daniel would suddenly act like this.

"Just go." He said simply, shooing him away from him, watching him go to run behind a boulder.

"Very smart, little human. Though I'm only after you. You inadvertently made it ten times easier for me to kill you." Alyssia said, walking out of the shadows where she had been hiding, she had followed him all day looking for a time to strike, him catching on wasn't in her plans, but it didn't really matter in the end. With Lovino gone, even with X4 type advantage, she doubted that Daniel could put a scratch on her. Hell, even with Lovino there, they probably weren't a threat.

She kept a blank expression, 'easiest job ever.' She unsheathed the blades on her arms, ready to end the little weakling when he used endure. That would prolong the process, but that's it. She was much stronger than him. Types didn't even matter anymore. It was almost laughable. She picked him up by the collar of his scarf and readied a metal claw. He couldn't Endure forever, and when it wore off, she'd get this job over with.

"Signal Beam!" A male voice called behind her, said attack hitting her square in the back. She lost her footing for a moment and looked back at them. That attack had taken a considerable amount of health, though it wasn't as powerful as whenever others had used it, so she could safely rule out a bug type.

"Na, Kai, looks like we got here in time." A rather relaxed looking Flareon said to the Vaporeon next to him. Said Vaporeon didn't look happy about this out of place comment.

"Akio, for one, don't call me that, my name is Kaimu. Secondly, we're in the middle of something, keep your mouth shut!" He hissed, possibly the most irate Vaporeon on the face of the planet. The Flareon, Akio, only laughed in reply,

"D'aww, but Kai-Kai, we've got this in the bag, no need to be so uptight." The third member, and the one who had attacked said with a smile. He was a Jolteon, clearly older, but seemed a little childish and mischievous.

"Denki! What did I just say about the damn nickname!?" Kaimu hissed, he clearly did NOT approve of his nickname.

Denki merely smiled, "You're no fun, little brother. You're probably just a bit anal because you can't actually touch Alyssia. Serves you right for having a defensive set."

Alyssia looked at them, a little bit angry that they were taking her lightly. Whoever they were, they knew her. She didn't like that she didn't know them. That probably meant... She looked at them, and sure enough, they had Yoake Houden team badges. I guess that's what she got for trying to kill that little Eevee leader of theirs. Either they were holding a grudge, or... No they were definately holding a grudge. Her eyes narrowed and she took a step closer to the cliff. She could drop him off the mountain, and he would die. No question. Sky Peak was the highest point easily accessable to anyone. One shove in the wrong direction, though.. she dangled Daniel over the edge, glaring straight at the bickering trio.

Denki laughed, "I'd like to see you try!" He taunted her.

She frowned when she heard that. None of them were able to fly. Why were they so calm? Maybe they were only here for her. Either way, she was going to finish this job. She chucked him off the mountain, causing Lovino to bolt out of hiding "Daniel!" He screamed

Denki sidestepped, revealing a small Shaymin, "Kazuya! Do your thing!"

And he did. Kazuya immediately turned into his Sky Forme, and flew after Daniel, effortlessly catching him and bringing him back around to them.

This made Alyssia very angry. She honestly should have seen that coming. Shaymin live all over this mountain, there was no way that they wouldn't have gotten one on their team at some point. However, more than that... She was now completely boxed in. There was nothing she could do now. The four pokemon team closed in on her and made sure that she was securely bound.

"You probably think Ruka's mad, but she's not. She just wants to talk to you." Akio said simply, ever the polite one of the group.

"Mmhmm, it has to do with the attacks on Human-pokemon." Denki added, nudging her forward, having taken the back to guard. "And you two, Ruka wants to see you too." He motioned with his head.

Daniel, who'd been safely returned to Lovino (scarred for life and deathly afraid of flying, but safe) looked down at him in order to get his opinion.

"It's okay, Daniel, we had a good date while it lasted." Lovino smiled. It didn't occur to him that he'd called it a date until Daniel blushed.

"Ooh la la~ so that's why you two were all the way up here!~" Denki smiled mischievously.

Lovino blushed, "I.. uh, no we, we aren't..." Words didn't seem to want to cooperate with him and he was making a bit of a fool of himself by trying.

Daniel was blushing slightly and averted his gaze, rather embarrassed. He put his paw on Lovino's head, when he realized he was babbling incoherently. He looked at Lovino with a microscopic smile when he promptly shut up.

Denki chuckled, "holy shit, that's adorable. C'mon now, let's go. '

"Brother, they're both male, neither are adorable. That's a female adjective." Kaimu huffed.

"No, it's unisex, little brother, just like you and your attitude is adorable." Denki insisted, rolling his eyes.

"I second that. Kaimu is adorable." Akio pounced on the Vaporeon and nuzzled his cheek.

"Akio, get off!" Kaimu looked irritated at the situation he was in more than at Akio.

"Mmmm... Fine, but only because we shouldn't keep Ruka waiting." Akio reluctantly got up off Kaimu.

Daniel watched as Kaimu got up and shook himself. Something seemed out of character on that last outburst, and he quickly located the blush on his face, wow, obvious much? Daniel jumped slightly when he turned and yelled at them.

"C'mon or we're going to leave you!" He threatened, turning and leading their four members plus their captive down and out of the dungeon. Daniel and Lovino weren't far behind.

XxX later, off the mountain XxX

Daniel and Lovino were perplexed when they were all brought through Treasure Town, the usual townspeople just stared at the Bisharp now identified as Alyssia the mercenary. Though the only thing on the other side of town was Sharpedo bluff. Why were they heading there? Shouldn't they go to a more private place to talk? Those and more questions were going through Daniel's head. That is, until Kaimu swatted the bush away from the secret entry way.

The original structure of what used to be Kouki and Ruka's single-room cave home had been added onto drastically. There were numerous levels and each was different in terms of what it held. Though they were all pretty similar. All except for the bottom floor. That was the holding chambers for hostile pokemon that had interested Ruka enough to warrant questioning. That was where Alyssia was headed. Ruka had apparently decided to see Daniel and Lovino first.

"Hello, you two." Ruka greeted, already in her serious mood, pacing in front of the Sharpedo's teeth. "I suppose you'd like to know what's going on, right? Well so would I. Though you two are further out of the loop than I, so I am going to fix that, however, first, a few questions." She said, turning her green eyes over to them, "first off, how many pokemon know that Daniel is a Human?"

Lovino blinked, in shock from her behavior and thefact that she knew about Daniel. "Er... Me, my brother, Dakota, Ivan..."

Daniel felt a pain in his chest when he heard those names'them again? Why does it hurt to think about those names? What do they mean to me?'

"In short, too many. We don't know how many those pokemon told, or what they're involved in." She got thoughtful, "You were much more reckless with the information than I was. I'm not sure if that's good for you in the long run. if one pokemon knows and wants you dead, I'm sure others will too. More humans showing up might be causing ill feelings in the pokemon of this world that don't take kindly to our intrusion.."

"W-wait, there are more humans like Daniel?" Lovino looked shocked and confused.

"Of course there are. More than you realize, and they always seem to come to solve a calamity or problem that we can't handle ourselves. I'm one of those humans. It's only natural that I am looking into this. I may be a pokemon now, but I still feel kinship for humans in my position."

Lovino nodded, though he still looked lost. Ruka sighed, having not wanted to have to spoon feed them all this. That's what you get...

" it'll make more sense later on. I'll skip to telling you the situation, since you guys don't seem to know anything." She said, turning her gaze back out to sea. "Humans have been coming in greater numbers as of recent, what used to be unheard of is becoming less shocking to hear. I myself am in touch with five other humans, not including Daniel, and each has had an attempt on their life. Someone wants us dead. She said seriously, "and if I am to assume that the trend of humans helping with things pokemon can't deal with alone will continue, then they're planning something that is possibly just as bad or worse as the end of the world."

"Wh.. What could be worse than the end of the world?" Lovino asked, looking at her.

"I don't want to find out. That's all I'll say for now. It's getting late." She scrutinized the sunset as if it could give her the answers she wanted, "Akio, Kaimu, escort them back to their guild."

The two mentioned nodded and quietly led them out.

Daniel couldn't wrap his head around what she had said. Worse than the end of the world? What did that even mean? He looked over at Lovino, who was just as confused.

The other guild members seemed happy to see them, but were curious about the escort, not that they would be telling strangers about what had just happened to them. It had been a long day, and dinner was long overdue. once they ate their fill, they retired to their room for the night.

"What do you make of what Ruka said?" Lovino murmured softly, not wanting to be overheard by anyone.

"Honestly? I don't know. Today's been hectic. I didn't mean for it to be this way. I thought we'd be relaxing on the peak, not an y of that..." Daniel said, a little guilty about putting Lovino in danger.

"Don't worry about it, Daniel, it's not like they were after me." He scooted their beds all the way over and layed down on his, stifling a yawn, "let's get sleep. Maybe we'll be able to think about it more after a good night's rest."

"Y-Yeah..." Daniel nodded, laying down as well.

A/N: I'm done! Another long ass entry, but I'm fucking done with the third chapter! Thank Arceus!

Alyssia belongs to Slendie258. Thanks for sending her in!