The daylight faded away quickly, Lucc had napped until it was evening and Ryan had to wake him up. "C'mon, it's dark out."

He watched Lucc sit up and stretch out his front paws and hind legs out, Lucc was ready to do this. He knew that caution was still needed while doing something so risky but that was beside the point. Lucc just wanted to see her again. He wanted to see Aura.

While endlessly thinking about her, Ryan and Lucc headed out to the pod which had been recently placed in their front yard and entered it.

"There's no turning back now Lucc, we really shouldn't have gotten those rubies." Ryan sighed and flipped the levers once he typed 3065 into the monitor.

Heavy vibrations turned steady as the travel sequence played through, next thing you know they were back in futuristic Kanto a few minutes later. Ryan made sure Lucc's nano camera was fully operational before letting him out of the pod. "Try to be quick buddy, fit as many as you find into that pouch." He closed the door and secured it.

Lucc turned his head to look at that sandy horizon after his trainer closed the door. It didn't take long to spot the group of buildings that he was at last time, he even remembered which building Aura called home. Lucc began his journey, his paws padding through the near silky textured sand while on his way. He arrived back at the buildings shortly, having no real idea where Aura would be at the time. She could be out exploring or inside of the bunker, Lucc decided that he should check her living space first and headed into the standing building. The bunker lid was right under him since he'd taken about 15 steps inside of the building.

"Hm." A knock should do to get her attention if she was in there, so he stamped his right paw against the metallic lid a few times and in a few moments heard some creaking under him which told him to quickly move from on top of it. Aura popped out from under it after it opened upward and grinned at him.

"Lucc! I saw you through the camera, I'm glad you came back. Come in!" She headed back down just as quickly as she came up, Lucc following after her as it closed behind him.

It wasn't too spacious inside. A bed, small kitchen, bathroom and a small monitor that let you see everything that was immediately outside of the bunker.

"I can't do much to keep it maintained in here so I just make sure not to mess anything up in the first place! What made you come back Lucc?" Aura's eyes lit up as she gazed upon the Lycanroc in front of her, he had a good build and seemed modest and serious in personality, she was fond of it.

"Well, I did kind of say I was coming back. I was interested in you. I want to know more about you..." Lucc began but remembered his primary mission and cut himself short, he couldn't stray off or play games.

"But...first, I need to let you know something else. My trainer and I are in trouble." He sighed and sat down on the wooden floor.

"Oh no...for what? Does it have something to do with me?" Aura couldn't think of what it was, she hadn't done anything wrong in her mind but some anxiety was felt anyway.

"Not directly, it's about those rubies you had. If I can't find more, who knows what'll happen to us." He didn't want to blatantly ask Aura for more rubies so he hinted at it.

"That's terrible, if I had more in my possession I'd give them to you." Aura replied, those rubies were definitely a rare find.

"So you don't know where any are? I'm sorry to be so pushy about this Aura but this is serious and you're the only one that can help." Lucc didn't want their second time meeting each other to go this route, he hoped that she wouldn't like him any less.

"Mm...well we could check back where I originally found them, it's a long walk though." Of course, Lucc accepted without hesitation.

They exited the safety of the bunker and traveled through the field of sand for miles before a few mountains covered by fog were visible in the far distance. "There. It'll take an hour or so." Aura warned.

"That's okay, this needs to be done." Dry air blew across the dunes, nothing but the mountains could be seen all around. It was an almost helpless feeling.

Aura was right, it took a long hour and a half for them to reach the mountains. Lucc's paws were beyond tired but just beneath the mountains held a misty rainforest so it was cooler in temperature. "Why isn't all of this covered in sand?" Not one grain was present, he definitely wasn't complaining but it did seem pretty odd.

"As far as I know these mountains appeared some time after the storm." Aura replied, she sounded dead serious about it too.

"Huh? After? That doesn't make sense!" His head tilted to the right slightly in obvious confusion as Aura led through the forest and up the mountain.

"I know, I don't understand it either. Maybe I will one day." Aura stopped at the entrance of a deep and dark cavern while leading.

"You went in there? You have to be crazy Aura." Lucc stared into the cave and couldn't see a thing. On top of that, the rubies were black and would likely be difficult to see.

"Well, when you lose your entire family to a brutal and never ending sandstorm. You tend not to care anymore." She looked back at Lucc and disappeared into the cavern in front of them.

"H-Hey, wait Aura!"