Adrian suddenly awoke with half of his head and face buried in the dirt. All of him ached. Simply standing was a struggle how sore he felt. Now, Adrian was in a new place entirely that was not the canyon, nor the edge of the river, nor even the village that the Chikorita spoke of. It was an unidentifiable highway with a dense line of trees on either side meant to keep travelers from straying off the wide road. He lacked the sense of direction to know where he currently was. North? South? South of what, exactly?

He finally remembered why his body hurt so much, what he was doing before he fainted. Then his memory flashed before him to remember his situation, how they escaped into the river that rushed them somewhere dangerous. That he and the Chikorita were essentially pummeled into submission…

Oh, where is she? He looked around and found Foliga the Chikorita, unconscious just as he once was and tossed to the other side of the road. She suffered from ragged breaths, and caught in a deeper dream than he was. Adrian did end up finding Foliga's exploring bag which was more empty than he remembered it being. Did someone seriously drop us here and steal all our stuff?! Unbelievable! Didn't have the decency to take the bag with them! Not sure what else to do, he started to shake Foliga. "Wake up! We have a problem!"

"H-Huh? What happened..?" She groggily looked around, same as he first did.

"Someone made off with our stuff!"

The Chikorita's face turned pale at the dawning horror of the situation. She tried to find the right tone to mask her dread. "Where's my bag?"

"Empty," he said, opening it to show her. She was silent for a long time after that. Adrian had no idea what to do except stand there clutching her bag dumbfoundedly. The morning air should have been peaceful, but did nothing more than to unease them in eerie quietness. Bruises that showed through his short-cropped Riolu fur began to sting, itching him to get moving. "I don't think we should head back to Paradise Village."

"We can't head back to Paradise Village," she repeated solemnly.

As the only one of them with a sense of direction, he needed to get her back on track."Where should we go now?"

"…I know this road, it leads to the Copper Carvings. I need to see who's still there."

So they left traveling down the highway in their tattered state, unfamiliar to himself but familiar to Foliga. She mentioned how she had traveled the very same road the day before, and it showed; numerous footprints like a stampede were still visible. The paranoia of the morning slowly grew on him, and he remembered the ambush just outside the Copper Carvings. If they're adamant, those pokemon from yesterday could still be searching for us, or setting up another trap…

But when the Copper Carvings drew near, when the trees and green were replaced with sand and rock, they were shocked to find they could go no further. The natural bridge that suspended over the river was destroyed. The rubble of it were in giant fragments at the bottom of the valley it once crossed, where it collected water like a dam, and would slowly dry out the current that led to Paradise Village.

"Those 'mon that were chasing us did this," Foliga said, peering over the ledge to see the damage. "They don't want anyone entering. Or leaving." The wind was strong and Foliga swayed, and she staggered back before an accident could happen. "I… What they did to Paradise… and now they have Septime…"

Adrian could understand. Now, In their own humorous, individual way, they were both lost. "So. What happens now?"

"The Mountaineers said that they were going to bring the meteorite somewhere. That they had someone interested in it…" She turned to him. "I don't want to force you to go anywhere, but it's important that I protect you."

You're supposed to be the one protecting me? "That doesn't sound like a lot to go on. Where are you talking about exactly?"

"There's this place they mentioned. Bargain Town. There might be someone there that can help us! Maybe… maybe some of the Mountaineers escaped, and we'll find them." She looked down the road, trying to find an unseeable destination. "Will you go with me?"

He shrugged. "Not like I have anywhere better to be."

Chapter 6: The Past is Prologue

There was no one else on the roads. It was just each other, and their footsteps as they crunched through the dirt and leaves, because neither of them were in the mood for conversation. On any other occasion Adrian would have been more than happy to pester the Chikorita for details, but he knew better than that right now. She probably has as many questions and answers as I do, he thought grimly. Which is to say, none at all.

But most of the routes that Foliga and Adrian took were the backroads. The ones covered in overgrowth and were untrimmed, sometimes narrow enough for only the one of them at a time. Sometimes it dove into the forest, where the sun was filtered by the canopy. Sometimes they cut corners by trampling through the pastures to where the road started again. They abandoned the highway in favor for these alternates were because, in the Chikorita's own words, "This way's gonna take us directly to another town. We'd be just wasting our time by staying on the highway."

It clicked in his head then, and he gave her a dubious look. "What? You don't even know where we're going?"

"I have an idea of where to go," she elaborated. "I haven't been west, and there isn't another town nearby that I know of, so it stands to reason that a town lays west!"

"I guess." He gave up trying to press the logic. To him right now, there were lots of other things to worry about.

First and foremost, Adrian hated all the walking he had to do. It was not because it tired him. Just the opposite, it was strangely enthralling to do an all-day marathon and not feel exhausted. But there was just so much scenery he could bear! First the drab canyon, then the village, now the forest trails. Just what was a proper pokemon village that was not out to attack him supposed to be like? He was itching to know.

Foliga was fortunately able to elaborate on one thing, and she assured Adrian that the mystery dungeon itself was the one that took her belongings, not a random burglar. "That's just what a mystery dungeon does," Foliga explained softly. "It takes what it wants because we escaped the wrong way. We were overwhelmed…"

He nodded along. After all, it was not the craziest thing he had to believe recently. So essentially, I'm stuck following its rules. But next time, if there is a next time, I'll win.

In the end, they just had to keep going. Eventually, the trail did open up to a peaceful clearing that ran alongside a pond, complete with the morning mist that still rolled over it. It looked cold, refreshing, and very tempting to Adrian. "Can't we take a break here?" he called out to Foliga. "We're not in any rush, right?"

She hummed tiredly, before making her sigh of resignation. "Oh. Alright. I suppose a little rest here won't hurt. I'll just, um," she settled away from the water, "wait right here until you're ready to go."

Adrian knelt by the water to study the reflection that it showed him. This was another big dilemma that troubled him. He was truly not in a dream, because Adrian was still a pokemon. A Riolu at that, with crimson eyes, metal plates embedded in the flesh of each forearm, a pair of ears that rendered the floppy things on each side of his head irrelevant, the whole deal. His reflection tilted its head when he did, and there was something so unsettling about it, because he knew that it was supposed to be wrong.

Albeit the calm body of water did do an excellent job reflecting the still atmosphere… so Adrian decided to jump into it with a mighty ker-plash! Doing so muted his voice, and he emptied his lungs to sink to the bottom. Seconds ticked away in his head as he just sat there at the murky bottom, arms and legs crossed. He counted well over a minute before he felt the need to return to the surface. Why couldn't I at least become a water-type? Bet I could breathe underwater, and that'd be useful! What is a Riolu able to do?

Foliga stayed away from the water, sunbathing. The Chikorita's mind was entirely somewhere else, and even though she looked comfortable lounging on the road, Foliga stared unfocused back the way they came. But when he was ready to continue, she looked ready too, and they left in their merry way.

Then the walking continued. The morning and afternoon rolled right past him with absolutely nothing happening. Perhaps it was common for pokemon towns to be so far apart from each other. Maybe that was why they never saw anyone else traveling. Adrian could practically feel his enthusiasm draining from him with every step.

Grrrooowwwlll.

Oh wait. I think that's just my stomach. He called out to Foliga and said, "What are we going to do for food?"

She tossed her leaf out of her eyes. "Sorry. Not many options right now. If we keep going, I'm sure we'll find something."

"Okay." I'm a pokemon now. A fighting-type! I should have more stamina than this. But despite of what he tried to tell himself, Adrian did not bode well missing out on breakfast. Or lunch. And as the sky turned shades of orange, and the trees' long shadows dipped over them, it was beginning to look like he would go without dinner too. "It's also going to get dark soon," he pointed out.

"It is. Maybe we can make it to Bargain Town by the morning…"

He stepped up to huff at her. "You seriously think we're going to be okay traveling through the night?"

"Why not?" Foliga looked at him like he was somehow being the unreasonable one. "Look at it this way. The faster we can get there, the better it'll for both of us. It'll certainly be easier to find food in a town than out here!"

"But what about rest? Proper sleep? What if there's bandits stalking the highway?"

"Just how many stops do you need, Adrian?"

"How about shelter from the weather? Arriving in an unfamiliar town in the middle of the night isn't good either. Or getting lost in the darkness—"

"Okay, enough!" Foliga said, relenting. "Over there, the break in the trees. That's a good enough ditch as any to stay in."

They hopped off the road and settled into where she had pointed out. It was incredibly unremarkable, just hard dirt with patches of grass. Both of them went to work individually scraping beds out of the fallen leaves, in lieu of no proper beds. What are pokemon usually sleeping on? the human-turned-pokemon thought. Adrian immediately fell onto his when he was done. It was scratchy on the Riolu's back and he rolled around to find a comfortable position that accommodated his tail. The first and worst bed he was going to sleep in, but it would simply have to do.

The stars and moon were completely blotted out by the clouds, and so before the true dark and cold of night settled, Foliga decided to build a campfire. That had him burst out laughing. "What? A grass-type starting a fire? Don't tell me that's not at least ironic!"

"It's useful to know," the Chikorita replied dryly. "I'll teach you to make the second one, so next time you don't just stand around and watch."

Adrian held his hand in front of him. "I just meant it as a joke, okay? I wasn't trying to make fun of you or anything."

She sighed. "I know…" She stared longingly into the fire, reflecting on that moment in its flames. It made their bivouacs more comfortable, but separated the two from each other, as they sat on opposite sides of it that let the light illuminate and warm their faces. "I'm the one that should be apologizing to you. I wasn't the most helpful today, was I?"

"I wouldn't put you down so quick," he offered.

"I'm sorry. I've been so wrapped up in what I'm thinking about, I've barely considered you." She paused, and tried to start again. "So, have you remembered anything today? About your past? About climbing into a meteorite?"

The Riolu shook his head. "Just my name still. And that I'm supposed to be human." It was like Adrian's head was playing games with him. Why remember only his name, and no one else? Why remember that he was a human, when we was not one anymore? "I doubt that you believe me."

"No, it's okay. I do believe you! You don't strike me as the type of 'mon—" she looked up and he shrugged to pardon her, "human, to lie about something like that."

"Thanks, I guess."

The Chikorita hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe something happened while you were in that meteorite. After all, spending days in there could've done something to your memory."

Adrian choked on what he heard. "I was in a meteorite for how long, exactly?"

"At least two days. Just like incubating an egg!" Foliga smiled at the comparison.

"Two days," he repeated incredulously. "I was deprived of air for more than two days. Yes, that would do something to me, let alone my memory."

They sat comfortably in the lapse of the conversation, nothing more than the crackling fire to fill the air. The sky was overcast, which blocked to moon, and their only source of light was that fire, as if the rest of the world had disappeared where the heat of it could not reach.

Foliga pulled away from the fire to look at him. "The specifics don't matter. I'll help you figure out everything that you forgot. I promise."

"Cool. And I'll lend a hand with… whatever you're doing, I suppose?"

"Saving the real Septime. And then the Mountaineers. Then, we go back and save Paradise Village."

Sounds easier said than done, Adrian thought. The campfire lasted a little longer until it became gentle embers. Then he finally yawned and they wished each other goodnight. He had no more trouble closing his eyes, or falling asleep on the itchy leaves.

When morning followed Adrian awoke blissfully in much better condition and spirits than the day before. Foliga responsibly cleaned up the fire pit while he swept away their makeshift beds, effectively erasing the traces of their campsite. With a new spring to their step they joined the highway to continue traveling.

Foliga was in significantly higher spirits after a proper night of rest. The Chikorita spent the entire midday telling Adrian everything that had happened leading up to him emerging out of the meteorite. She told him about his meteorite landing in the carvings, which attracted the attention of a guild called the Mountaineers. About how she fought for the position to retrieve the meteorite with a Servine named Septime, the one that the Zorua nights earlier impersonated. She also mentioned a smaller meteorite she personally found containing an orange jewel. "I expected more jewels to come out of the bigger one, not you." Foliga sighed. "The Captain has it now. I gave it to him before all these other things happened."

"Maybe you can ask for it back," Adrian said. He had meant it to be hopeful, but knew better than to start raising expectations. Because that was better than any odds concerning the Mountaineers. Or Paradise Village for that matter.

The only thing that impeded their progress was a conspicuous signpost marking another path in the road. "There's another town that way," she read aloud, "but it's not Bargain Town." That was all she needed to dismiss the idea, and continued past the sign.

Pleasures like food and proper shelter sounded too good for Adrian to pass up lightly. "Let's not be hasty about this. Isn't another town worth at least to visit?" He way willing to tell Foliga anything to make her reconsider, without sounding too pleading. "Maybe someone there can point us in the right direction."

"I'm sure we're already heading the right way."

"It doesn't hurt anyone to double-check, though." That was all before he got a chance to read the sign himself:

This way to Volatile Village —

— This way to Seafoam Village DO NOT ENTER

Not quite sure what the 'DO NOT ENTER' out portion meant, he ignored it. The name of the village on top was what glared out to him. What an on-the-nose name for a place. "I mean, uh, We've been wrong about first impressions before!"

"Sorry. It's just not worth getting side tracked by."

A shift in the air caught his mind, practically freezing him in place. The Riolu could feel a sharp, cold wind, even in the spring afternoon. His body was reluctant to move, it strained him to jump off the highway into unsuspicious shrubbery. "Get down here!"

Foliga cocked her head to one side, standing firmly in place. "Adrian? What are you doing?"

"Quickly!" he hissed. Thankfully, the grass-type did hide with him this time, still holding onto her bewildered expression.

Down the road came a tightly knit group of pokemon. While they were still too far away to precisely identify, their vague silhouettes and forms left Adrian's mind to fill in the details. The biggest was quadrupled with a long neck and head, bigger than the others it was surrounded by even if they stacked on top of one another. The smallest was coincidentally the loudest and levitated through the air. They bolstered about their previous accomplishments as they walked out of the road that would have led them to Volatile Village.

Outlaws was the first word that came to Adrian's mind. But there were still too many unknowns; were they vagabonds like he and Foliga, or apart of a larger group? Could it be possible the pokemon were members of the aforementioned Mountaineers? Or maybe they were apart of the bandits that attacked the Copper Carvings?

As they drew closer, their voices became intelligible from one another. "I can't believe we caught our third one today!" the youngest one said. "What are gonna do? We can't hold any more!"

"Nah, we'll just send them to another team to process, not a big deal." The second one, unmistakably a female, paused. "Hey, are you listenin' to us? Watcha lookin' at over there?"

"…I can't see you." It was a deep voice.

"Pardon?"

"I can't see you," they repeated, "but I know you're there. Come on out, and make this easy for us."

The Riolu's body knotted into itself. He covered his muzzle with his hand, hating himself for the rustling sound that the motion inevitably caused. He's… talking to us. How did they know?

"You can't stay in there forever. Come forward."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could practically see Foliga mouthing words to him. Run. She'll cover for me.

"If you know what's good for you, then you better do what he says!"

Foliga's mouth continued to move, repeating it over and over like a mantra to abide. Run..! Run..!

Adrian began running. He put his back to the road and Foliga and even the outlaws. If he were to be thankful for one thing, being a fighting-type was proving to be useful for the sudden burst of energy. Focusing on putting as much distance between those things, jumping over mossy boulders and logs, he had to make sure to stay in a straight enough line. After it was said and done he and Foliga needed a path back onto the highway.

For the longest time it was just him and his raspy breathing through the dense forest. He expected shouting, either from the Chikorita or from the outlaws, but hearing nothing was worse. When he finally felt safe to steal a glance behind him revealed only the hazy trees that seemed go on forever. The Riolu spun around. More trees in every direction. Where Adrian had ran in suddenly seemed so far away from him, the trees and terrain blended together, and in a few more turns of his body he forgot which way he was heading towards to begin with.

What..? How?

He just had to pick a direction and continue. Only this time, Adrian felt the earlier burst of energy disappear, feeling like he awoke in the Copper Carvings all over again, a certain stupor which he was becoming far too intimate with. Except he did not have someone to guide him this time, and the Riolu carried himself practically by the scruff of his own neck.

Swinging forward, the Riolu felt no more ground beneath his feet, and gave in. Closed his eyes. He let his pokemon body tumble down, his limbs and back hitting branches, groaning weakly whenever something hard collided into his head or stomach. When he reached the bottom, he did not get up right away and groveled in his misery.

It was a struggle to open his eyes. Adrian could barely see in front of him. Tall trunks of trees he could not see the leaves of, hidden by an ominous fog. Dead patches of grass left markers of some semblance of a trail to follow. Behind him was the hill too steep to climb up, even if he did find the strength to try.

Basin of Clouds

1F

The trees became his markers. Adrian stumbled towards one after another, he had to rely on them until his vision focused. What does she think she's doing, this impulse to protect me?! …I shouldn't have ran. I should've stayed with her. Tried to fight those outlaws off with Foliga. Then, at least we could've been captured together… now I'm just lost. And tired. And hungry. And a bit— wait, who's that?

Another pokemon up ahead was crouching, rummaging through something while muttering to itself. Adrian hesitated. His last few attempts at talking to anyone outside Foliga did not go too smoothly, and in his current condition, was not keen on having to face pokemon so unfriendly. Putting that all aside, he carefully approached from behind, making sure to step around twigs or grass or anything that would make noise.

The brown fur and bushy ringtail marked it as a Sentret, to no doubt from Adrian. It's body was small enough in proportion that it wrapped itself into a nest as it toyed with something Adrian could not see. When he was finally close enough to loom behind it… he stomped on its tail. "Hey!" The Sentret, as he wanted, squeaked in surprise and tried to scramble away, but found itself trapped under the Riolu's foot. "Good, now you wouldn't happen to know how to talk, would you? I need to get— whoa!"

Somehow the Sentret yanked its tail free, taking away Adrian's step and balance. He fell onto his posterior with an embarrassing thump. Looking back up, their positions were ultimately reversed; the Sentret used its tail to gain another body's worth of height, and growled down at him.

Adrian laughed. "You forgot to do the same to me!" With both of his legs the fighting-type swept them right under the Sentret's only support, now its turn to fall. And for good measure, Adrian scrambled and kicked it in its side, hard. Another squeak in pain. The Sentret abandoned the fight then, picking itself up and on all limbs dashed into the fog, where it was enveloped without leaving a trace to follow. "Yeah, you better run! Better luck next time!" Definitely didn't talk, and definitely wasn't friendly. Am I in another one of those dungeons?

Turning away, Adrian looked back to where he initially found the other pokemon, and gasped. It was a pile of colorful fruits, ranging colors from red and blue and yellow, some of them were already bitten into and left like the eater had not enjoyed the taste. Food! Honest to goodness food! Adrian scurried over and picked through it all. A small bit of him felt bad that he scared away the pokemon from it's hard-earned stash, but hard to tell under the sharp smelling citrus and the sound of his belly reminding how hungry it was. I've been a bully to it enough, so maybe just one or two…

Basin of Clouds

2F

He trotted forward happily holding his prizes. In one hand was an apple with a bite already taken, and in the other was a slightly mushy oran berry. While the apple was as he expected, sweet and acidic enough to make his canine-like teeth ache, the smaller fruit was new to him; the oran berry had large pores and short hairs that were easy to bite into, but tasted a peculiar bittersweet that Adrian coughed at the taste it left in the back of his mouth.

It was on a good start as any. He would not let a mystery dungeon get the better of him this time. No repeat performances of what happened at Paradise, he thought confidently, taking another bite from the apple.

The lights began to appear when Adrian was halfway through. He stopped dead in his tracks, stupidly holding each fruit as two yellow glowing orbs bounced around in the air. They jingled pleasant chimes with each swish back and forth, that seemed to echo through the fog and around him. Then, after entertaining him for what seemed like an eternity, the lights dimmed back into the fog. Tempting him to follow.

And he did. Wordlessly and thoughtlessly, he hurried in its direction. The voice telling him to reconsider was faint, but as long as he held onto his food, he could explore until he found some way out, as he did with Foliga at Paradise Village. The process of moving his limbs was faint too. Adrian realized all of him was like this, and shook off the hypnosis, but by then the mystery dungeon had done its job. Now he was more lost than ever.

Sounds of running startled him, and Adrian turned around into a faceful of Stantler, whose orbs sounded like bells with every leap through the fog. Like an enigmatic vision, if it did not try to run him over. But the Riolu was too slow to react, and the Stantler's charge toppled him over where he was pinned between its forelegs. The wild pokemon said nothing as it raised its hooves up and ready to bring them down on his head.

Adrian had only one way to defend himself. He sneaked his arm free, and threw his apple, his precious apple, point-blank into the Stantler's face. That did not stop it from finishing its attack, but the counter was enough to miss his head and for him to get up. Adrian was frustrated that it costed him his apple but knew better than to vent it at the Stantler.

It did not need a reason to attack him. So did Adrian need one too?

"Eat this!" He chucked the remaining oran berry at the Stantler's head. But this time, the Stantler caught it. With its mouth. "Oh, come on!"

The orbs on its antlers began to change color. As the last of his oran berry was eaten, they turned into a bright purple before darkening into sicklier shades. Then, haze of a similar color expelled out of the Stantler's mouth that mixed in with the surrounding fog. Adrian coughed when he breathed it in and promptly covered his mouth. Poison? From the berry? He coughed more, feeling the purple haze burn his eyes, burn his throat. He tried to back away from the fog and Stantler, whom the last he saw of stood in the middle of it with immunity.

He collapsed to his knees by a nearby tree. Waiting the haze out was the only thing he could think to do, and hope the Stantler did not take note of the advantage it had. So when it was finally over and the Riolu could open his eyes, he looked around… and found nothing.

This, for some reason, was more frustrating than the alternative he imagined. "You lousy— did you just want my food?! Well, fine! I didn't want to finish those anyway!"

Basin of Clouds

3F

In his list from earlier, Adrian crossed out the words tired and hungry. Now he was plain angry.

That word reverberated in his mind with everything he did. When walking through the mist, the Riolu was reminded of the ends of his mask, the floppy parts, and tugged on them to vent. I hate these things! I hate being a pokemon!

The poisonous haze had stopped irritating his eyes eventually but that did little to please him. Only a few things would change his mood: one relied on Adrian finding Foliga, somehow unharmed from the outlaws which he knew would be doubtful; the other involved finding that Stantler and enacting revenge.

He walked longer along the lines of bare dirt until he was at a split in the path. The fork was marked with a wavy staff the size of his Riolu body, that twisted into a fine spiral on one end. Pulling the staff out of the dirt, Adrian inspected it with both hands. As a fine, winding branch that had the grain mysteriously sanded off, he could use it as a makeshift walking stick. Or maybe as a weapon, the end is sharp enough to dig into the dirt… Did someone put this here on purpose? In any case, he accepted it as his, and headed down the path that went right.

The staff gave him something to hold tightly onto instead of his mask. Whenever the grass would rustle around him, he wringed his paws around the wood. In almost every direction something toyed with his hearing. The sounds of waving branches morphed into harsh laughter, mocking him. Heartbeats were in time to chanting that picked up and started drawing closer, and Adrian tried to run, but the chanting only followed.

"I'm not in the mood for this," he thought aloud. Moving into a small clearing, the safest place to be was in the middle, and he braced his walking stick in front of him while scanning everywhere for enemies. "Quit messing with me! If there's so many of you, come out here and fight me!"

As if to oblige, they did. A rounded Sentret popped from behind a tree, and Adrian would not be surprised if it was the same one from earlier in the dungeon. But before he could have time to say anything, a second Sentret followed after it. From the other corner of the clearing, a third. Then a fourth… He stopped counting after twenty, and so the mob effectively fenced him in the clearing with their bodies. Making sure there were no gaps in their defense, their leader, a Furret, stepped in.

The Furret was huge compared to its underlings and even him, and it had no right to be, to the point of being unfair. The biggest part of its long body could be compared to four of the Sentrets grouped together. When it stood on its hind legs, Adrian craned his head up to stare into his beady and feral eyes, which took his attention off from the others. The Furret mewled to the rest of its entourage, which cheered it on as it coiled back, ready to pounce on him.

He gulped. It did not help that the crowd was actively rooting against him. The Furret began to charge, the cheering turned ballistic, and Adrian wound his walking stick back to smack it with the blunt end—

He swung, but the wood started to glow. A dim light emitted from the center of the spiral, gently floating forward with a trail of glitter, until it touched the Furret's body.

BOOM! The light ignited and consumed the Furret in a controlled and dense explosion. The pokemon rocketed back and crashed into a handful of its followers. The crowd went silent. Adrian went silent.

He swung again. BOOM! The explosion happened again, capturing the Furret and a few unlucky Sentret. Now, Adrian perfectly understood what it was he held. The crowd of Sentret scattered in every direction, and Adrian went to work swinging at whichever one dared to get too close.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Basin of Clouds

4F

There was a certain beauty to using his cane. With a flick of his arm, he summoned wave after wave of gentle glitter that was so unassuming of the true power it was capable of. The bursts of light and fire were perfectly round that swelled in size and then dwindled, leaving a vacuum in air that the ominous fog fell back in to replace. Just think about what I could have done to those outlaws if I had this thing. But first thing's first, I still need to find a way out of here.

The lights began to appear again when Adrian was halfway through. This time, there were three orbs of light bouncing in coordination through the fog. And this time, Adrian grinned in anticipation. My revenge. The bell chimes had not began to ring in his mind, so he knew that the Stantler had not noticed him, that he had the advantage.

He aimed his staff at the lights' direction. BOOM! They were engulfed by the larger flash of sound and heat, but when it dissipated, the original lights were still there. With a huff, Adrian charged closer to his target. Pursuing them as they were close to disappearing, he chased after the Stantler, evolving from a purposeful stride into a deranged sprint. "No! You get back here!" In a last ditch effort, he leaped for the lights, grappling onto the Stantler's horns and pummeling its head in with his free fist. "You can't run from me! I got more fruits to give you! Yeah, right here!"

But a number of things were wrong. What he thought were horns were slippery tentacles that were difficult to hold onto. Adrian dragged whatever pokemon he actually caught down from the air and wrestled to keep it from escaping. "G-gah, what's this one doing?! Glam, get this thing off me!"

Adrian felt a pair of paws on his shoulders on his back, then something sharp dig into his shoulder. He tried to push away the second attacker but let go of the first one doing so. "Let go of me!"

Suddenly, the sharp pain in his shoulder stopped. "What? The Riolu's talkin'!"

"I can do more than talk!"

"Get that blast wand out of his hands!"

He pushed from away from the two pokemon and staggered far away. His walking stick he dropped was now in the wrapped tentacles of… An Inkay? What's an Inkay doing here? The psychic-dark-type fumed with anger, the lights on his head flickering on and off, but otherwise did not move to attack him.

The second pokemon that buried its fangs into his shoulder revealed itself to be a Glameow. "There aren't Riolu in the Basin of Clouds. The spotted list has Sentret, Absol, Stantler, Spinda…" Her voiced trailed off to recall the rest of her list.

"You are correct. And this Riolu speaks." Adrian froze. The voice was deep, unfaltering, and unmistakeable. He pushed around to face the Zebstrika that it belonged to. Being primarily white and black made it easy to blend into the fog and sneak up. But the peculiar color and pattern of his bore into Adrian's own. "Are you Adrian?" It was not quite a question.

He found it hard to more his head and eyes, let alone speak. They have my staff. Can I do anything against them? "Can I help you with something?" he asked back, devoted to giving the pokemon a hard time.

"Hello? Everyone? I found another way to cross the— Adrian!"

LIke a dream, Adrian turned to see Foliga in the flesh, untouched and unscathed. She still carried her exploring bag on one side that was now partially filled with items found in the mystery dungeon. The Chikorita pushed her leaf to one side to inspect him better. "Why did you run away?" she asked

He blinked rapidly at her. "You told me to!"

"I did no such thing!" Foliga glanced worriedly between him and the other pokemon, before controlling her own expression. "It doesn't matter anymore, because we found you. But Adrian, what happened to you?"

It brought the attention to his own physical appearance. Adrian had spots of dirt and grass, he felt his eyelids twitch in a frenzy, and probably smelled like smoke to the others thanks to the staff. "I… fell down a hill. It's been a long day for me." Please, please don't let this be an allusion. Please don't let this be a trap. "Who are these other pokemon?"

Foliga gleefully looked at the others. "It's okay, Adrian. These are the good guys. Do you see their badges?" Sure enough, the Inkay had one on below his face, and the Glameow and Zebstrika had theirs between their chests and necks. "When I came out of hiding from the highway, we talked everything out."

The Zebstrika nodded, respectfully inputting on their reunion. "The Mystics are at your service. We were heading home from Volatile Village, apprehending a few outlaws ourselves."

"See Adrian? We just had—"

"A huge misunderstanding." Adrian buried his face in his paws. It was becoming a long day, indeed. "…Okay. Whatever."

"Then I suppose quick introductions are in order," the Zebstrika announced. "My name is Zio, leader of our team, the Mystics. I apologize for my rueful tone on the highway. Never meant to scare you kids." Zio sounded nothing like he did before, and he chuckled sincerely at his own error. "You can never be too careful these days, aye?"

Next was the Glameow, who since checked out of the conversation to clean her forepaws, but when called upon did the bipedal equivalent of a curtsey with her name. "I'm Glamorous."

"And I'm tired," Adrian muttered. Foliga shot a silent look to scold him.

"Don't like it? Call me Glam like Turby does," she said with a huff.

"I'm Turby! Nice to meet you!" The Inkay did a twirl through the air, oblivious to his mention in the prior exchange.

Zio the Zebstrika plucked his exploring badge from his chest. "Now, would you two wait for us outside the entrance to the Basin?"

Foliga's eyes lit up in knowing and anticipation. "You're going to teleport us out of the dungeon, right?"

Adrian shot up. What happened to completing the dungeon or fainting? But teleporting? That sounds like cheating! Before that would happen, he went to Turby who still held onto his walking stick, or whatever else they called it. "Sorry for hitting you earlier. Can I have that back?"

The Inkay squinted at him, debating if that would be a good idea. "Just don't go pointing it at anyone!" he scolded.

With a quick thank you, Adrian stood still at Foliga's side, the blast wand close to his chest. The fog cleared around his feet and something was lighting him from underneath that casted shadows up on his face. He was lifted in the air by that same mysterious force effortlessly as the light began to grow harsher. Like falling asleep, he did not even realize that his senses went away. Perhaps leaving the mystery dungeon this way was cheating, but was far more comfortable than any other way, he imagined.