The crew continued through the Moonlit Forest at a steady pace, easily able to take down whatever opponents were in their way This was partially thanks to Amaranth's sheer power as a Mythical (assuming she decided to help that battle) and Light and Fennix's knowledge gained from their jobs in the Expedition Society. Espurr, both being sick and facing enemies that often moved quickly, wasn't able to really help much. It would cause her face to fall for a few seconds before she put on her stoic mask once more. Light noticed it, and tried to give her a comforting glance, but he couldn't stare at the Espurr for long before he had to check for enemies. So he could do nothing about it in the dungeon.
But, Light being Light, he still wanted to help the Psychic-type with whatever discomfort she might be having at the moment that they could fix. So he slowed down reach her side and spoke with a comforting smile on his face. "Hey Espurr, how's your torch feeling? Is it getting hot, yet?"
"A little," Espurr answered, glancing at her makeshift torch. "It's not that bad, though."
"Well, there don't seem to be any Wilds around right now, so how about you give that torch to Fennix and get a new one?" Light stopped to look back at her. "Better now than it getting too hot while we're in the middle of a fight."
Espurr's stoic face refused to give anything away, but it took a few seconds before she spoke again. "Alright, I guess."
Fennix stopped as well at Light's words and turned back to get the torch from Espurr. While the two were doing that, Light walked up to Amaranth to check up on her. The Land Forme Shaymin was also watching the exchange between Fennix and Espurr with an unreadable expression.
"Have you sensed any enemies?" Light asked.
"Not recently," Amaranth hastily whispered. "But unfortunately, my sixth sense isn't the best. We were lucky I managed to sense those first few enemies. So just because I can't sense anything doesn't mean they aren't there, and that worries me a little. We faced Wilds at a decent rate throughout this dungeon at first, but it's been way to quiet lately. I don't like it."
Light felt his heart skip a beat. "You think something's wrong?"
Amaranth nodded, looking at him with a deadly look. "I've had a bad feeling since we entered this dungeon, and it's only grown worse. And that's not a good thing. When a Mythical Pokémon has a bad feeling, you should pay attention."
"Wish I had my telepathy," Espurr sighed. Light and Amaranth looked over at her to see that she had a new torch already. "Then I could tell you what's coming up. I'd know everything that's happening around here."
"Sadly, you don't right now," Amaranth sharply reminded her with a glare. "Unfortunately, I still can't shake this feeling. There's something wrong here, though I can't quite figure out what."
Amaranth eventually grabbed out her Expedition Gadget and began calling. Light and Fennix both gave her odd looks as she did so, but Amaranth was only focused on her gadget. Light decided that they would figure out what she's up to faster if they got out their own gadgets and connected to the same line she was using.
"Hey, Chief!" Amaranth called as soon as she went through the static.
"It's Dedenne," Dedenne flatly answered from the other side of the gadgets. "These things don't connect directly to Ampharos, remember? That, and it's the middle of the night over here."
Dedenne had barely finished her sentence when Amaranth barked her response. "Fine, then get the Chief up! This is important!"
"I'll try," Dedenne groaned. "But I'm not exactly in the building right now. So you better hope he's up late, because I'm not going to the Expedition Society base to wake him."
Amaranth closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, Light suspecting that she was pooling into whatever patience she had left. "Dedenne, this is important. I wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't."
Dedenne was silent. all they could hear from the other side of the gadget was static. Amaranth groaned, and when Light took a glance towards her, he saw her clutching the gadget forcefully in her tiny paw. So much that Light was almost worried it would break. Looking at her reaction almost gave Light an unsettled feeling himself.
Eventually, the static cleared and Ampharos's tired voice came from the gadget. "Hello, my friends, what do you need?"
Amaranth quickly spoke as soon as the Cheif's question ended. "Ampharos, when's the last time an adventurer from H.A.P.P.I came to the Moonlit Forest?"
"That's…not exactly easy information to find out, especially this late at night. Why? What's wrong?"
"A feeling I've got. There's something wrong here, and I want to figure out what that is. Preferably before we all go too far."
"Alright, I'll help with what little I know. I think it's been more than two years since H.A.P.P.I surveyed the forest, but that's all I know. I'm not entirely sure whether any adventurers took any missions in the Moonlit Forest, as only H.A.P.P.I's main headquarters has that information, and they wouldn't give it to any of us."
Light felt a shiver crawl down his spine and his heart started beating faster. "Is it seriously that bad?"
"I could be entirely wrong, but if this place has been abandoned for a while and is like this…" Amaranth paused for a moment to look around. "Then that means…I'm almost positive that…"
"This place is an outlaw group's hideout!"
"What?!" Light, Fennix, and Espurr all yelled at the same time.
"Pfft, they found us out," a gruff voice from above said.
"Too bad, we could have taken them farther in," another voice said with a cocky voice. "Boss isn't going to be happy."
"Whatever. We'll just drag them in in," another voice said.
As the voices spoke, Light felt heavier, like someone increased the weight on his shoulders. He could feel his heartbeat increase and sweat roll down his spine. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and his body shook because of that.
"Who's there?!" Fennix asked, her eyes darting wildly around to try and identify the voices.
A group of six Pokémon jumped from the trees, making a cramped circle around the four Pokémon. Light took a quick look around to see what types of Pokémon they were dealing with. They were a noctowl, houndoom, nidorino, stunky, litleo, and vibrava. Light took another look around at them so that he could formulate a plan.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Light asked to stall for time as he thought.
"We are the Blood Moon Bandits," the noctowl said. "And as for what we want..." He gave an evil chuckle. "I'll let you figure that out."
Amaranth let out a sudden and loud laugh. Her laughter was so loud that everyone, both the Blood Moon Bandits and Team Rebirth, gave her a confused glance. Light was just about ready to cut her out of the plan, since he found nothing funny about being outnumbered by a bandit group.
"Seriously?" Amaranth eventually asked after she was done laughing. "The 'Blood Moon Bandits?' That is seriously the name you're going with? Did you have a school kid name your group or something?"
"Uhh…should we be offended?" Fennix whispered to the other two school kids.
"A part of me wants to say 'yes'," Espurr deadpanned.
"If it keeps the bandits distracted, I don't care," Light said, his mind still formulating a strategy as his eyes went away from Amaranth and towards all the bandits.
"Like, could you guys pick a name more pretentious?" Amaranth continued. She raised her voice and cackled mockingly. "'Our name has blood in it! Fear us! We need to be feared in order for our pointless lives to be vindicated! Fear us!'"
"And who exactly asked you?" the stunky asked.
"I'm sorry, but you actually had a decent set up," Amaranth chuckled. "You walked around in the dark, had a decent set up for ambushing us, and had the numbers to back it up. You could have been intimidating. And then you ruined it with your name. You might want to work on that."
"Noctowl, this shaymin is getting on my nerves," the stunky growled.
"It doesn't matter," Noctowl dismissed. "The boss will enjoy the haul we brought in. Three new slaves from the kid, and we can probably sell the Mythical Pokémon for a lot of money. So learn to deal with her. She'll be making us all rich."
"Sl-Slaves?" Fennix whimpered. "Light, please tell me you've thought of something!"
"Yeah, I have," Light whispered intensely, watching the outlaws actions with an eagle eye as he spoke his plan. "Amaranth, if you can, keep them distracted."
"I think I'm more likely to annoy them then anything, but I can try," she dryly droned. "Don't expect too much time."
While Amaranth began talking to the outlaws to distract them, Light focused on the battle at hand. They were outnumbered, surrounded, and there wasn't much room for combat thanks to how enclosed the trees were. He looked back at Espurr and thought of the fact that she was having trouble fighting, something that made things even more difficult. He looked at Amaranth, who seemed to spend more time hiding then actually fighting in previous battles. And Light thought of her last words before they were jumped; that they were close to a bandit camp. And he realized one thing.
They could not win this fight.
So instead, Light thought of a way they could escape, specifically focusing on the three Pokemon that were blocking the way they came; noctowl, vibrava, and houndoom. He focused on them, and how they could get past.
Light gave both Fennix and Espurr a serious look. "We need to get out of here, you guys. We can't win this. Let's focus on the three Pokémon blocking the way we came and escape."
Espurr looked at the three Pokémon, and Light could almost see her brain in motion as she figured out how best to take them down. The pikachu himself had his eyes set on that noctowl, hoping that a strong electric attack could take it down without too much trouble. But he needed a plan for the other two.
"Espurr, what do you know about vibrava and houndoom?" Light asked as he looked at her.
Espurr looked back, her face determined. "Vibrava is Dragon/Ground and houndoom is Fire/Dark. I don't think there's much any of us can do on the later, especially if it has Flash Fire."
Light looked back at their opponents and mused. "Fennix and Amaranth should be able to take the vibrava, assuming Amaranth heard me." He looked towards the shaymin, who was still talking with the outlaws, but saw no indication that she was listening on her face. With a long sigh, he decided to place his trust in her anyways. "But the houndoom…Espurr, you're going to need to hit it with a Slumber Wand, or Petrify Wand. Something. We can't fight that thing quickly."
"I'll…try my best." Light looked and saw that Espurr didn't have the most confident look on her face, but she was already feeling the wand in her right paw and was focusing on the houndoom. "But…what if they follow us?"
Light's voice got caught up in his throat. He realized that he didn't really have an answer to that question. However, they didn't have the time for discussion like that, so he just shook his head.
"Worry about that later, worry about getting out of this mess now," Light commanded.
"I'll handle it," Fennix assured. "I've got an idea. Trust me."
"Good." Light checked the outlaws and it seemed, whatever Amaranth was doing, it was working, so he continued on with the plan. "Once we're past the outlaws, grab my paw, Espurr, while you grab Fennix. Hold on to her scarf. That way we can stick together. I don't know what Amaranth can do but…I'll just have to hope she'll be fine on her own."
"Sounds like a plan," Fennix smirked confidently. "Let's do it."
"Alright." Light focused his attention specifically on the noctowl while charging electricity into his left paw. "On my signal…"
"So how are we going to do this?" the noctowl asked. "The easy way, or the hard way?"
Light smirked, his smile hiding how nervous he was. "Do you need to ask?" Light asked. "Now!"
Light suddenly rushed forward in a flash and slammed into the noctowl in the chin, sending it flying into the trees. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the two attacks hitting the vibrava, and the wand fire hitting houndoom. The pikachu flipped his wand from his right paw to his left and extended out the currently unused paw. He breathed out slightly as he felt Espurr grab his paw, and with that, the pikachu hit the ground running.
From behind, Light could feel heat on the back of his skin and could smell a foul odor, telling him that the remaining three wern't just going to stand around. He glanced back and saw out of the corner of his eyes that Amaranth blocked several attacks—Ember, Poison Sting, and Sludge Bomb—headed for them with her Air Slash. That was all he could see before a large burst of light flashed before his eyes, accompanied by a sudden increase in temperature. One his eyes adjusted he saw a large wall of flames between his group and the outlaws, with a certain fennekin looking triumphantly at them. Light's ears dropped at the sight, but once Fennix reached Espurr and the Psychic-type grabbed onto her, he knew he had other things to focus on. So the pikachu ran faster again.
The initial burst of light lit up the forest as if the sun had suddenly appeared within it, allowing easy navigation at first. However, a few seconds later they found themselves beyond the light of the forest fire that Fennix made. There, they only had the light of their torches to guide them, so Light slowed down a little to avoid walking into trees in the dim lighting.
And there was one other thing Light wanted to check on while walking. "Espurr, sorry about the rush. Are you okay?"
"I-I'm alive," Espurr panted.
"Guys, I see someone behind!" Fennix yelled, causing Light's breath to leave his lungs in a woosh. Light looked behind the fennekin to see that, indeed, they had one figure following behind.
Light stopped, causing everyone else to stop as well. "It's only one guy, get ready for battle! We'll sweep them away before moving on."
"It's just me you idiots!" a familiar abrasive voice barked at them. "Now run! Some of them are still after us!"
"Got it!" Light yelled back.
The pikachu turned back around and once again rushed forward, the makeshift torch allowing him to better navigate the forest. He ran with little worry of his own safety, causing scrapes and cuts over his body due to some branch or stick he missed while navigating his path. There were also a few Wilds that tried attacking him, but Light completely ignored them. He felt a scratch here and there, and he was sure other attacks hit his allies, but the pikachu ran regardless. Nothing else mattered but him and his friend's escaping
Light kept running, the only senses he paid attention to being the slight vision he was given from the wand and the feel of Espurr's soft paw on his own. His ears were also perked just in case Fennix or Espurr called out, but all he could hear from them was panting, so he continued on regardless. His greater thought processes were all shut down for only a mindless sprint through the dungeon. Light cared about nothing else, thought of nothing else, but running through the forest and away from the bandits with his friends.
Eventually, though, they saw a golden light ahead of them, partially obscured by trees. When Light saw that light, and realized what it meant, he felt his heart skip a little, and the weariness that was slowly creeping in just vanished. Hope welled in him as he made his final mad dash through whatever trees he could until finally the light filled his eyes completely. It took a few seconds, but he eventually saw it. The golden sky of the sunset outside of the forest. They managed to escape.
"Fennix…Espurr…are you still there?" Light panted, wanting to keep running still instead of looking back.
"Yeah…we are," Fennix also panted.
"Let's…take refuge in the Rusty Mountains," Light panted. "We'll…gather our bearings there."
"Sounds like a good idea," Amaranth said, her voice nowhere near as fatigued as everyone else's.
It took them a while longer of running, but they eventually made it inside the Rusty Mountain Range. Light looked for a tall mountain to climb up so they could see any enemy coming towards them from a mile away. Eventually, he found a good place, a mountain that wasn't too steep but was rather high, and ran towards there. It took a bit, and even if the incline wasn't that large it was still an incline, but they eventually made it to the top of the mountain.
Once they did, the first thing Light did was let go of Amaranth's paw and collapse on the hard ground. The fatigue, the pain, everything that he was ignoring to make it to that place, all rushed to him in a wave and nearly knocked him out. Light still held on, though, since there were still things that he was obligated to do.
"Espurr…" Light huffed, though he realized how soft his voice was. "Are…you okay?"
"Define…okay," Espurr answered. "I'm…probably better than you two are…though. My head…does hurt a lot…though."
Eventually, Light felt smooth glass touch his lips. Light opened his mouth and drank from it, quickly recognizing the taste as the liquid trickled across his tongue and down his throat. It was apple juice, a much more concentrated apple juice then he was used to, but apple juice all the same.
"Th-thanks," Light stuttered out, feeling his energy starting to return back to him.
"Don't thank me yet," Amaranth dismissed. "You have scratches and scrapes all over you with some twigs and sticks stuck in there. Once I'm done with you and Fennix, you two won't be thanking me at all."
Light chuckled, already knowing that something like that would happen soon. "Would it surprise you if I told you…that I've felt worse?"
"You have?" Fennix groaned. "Because…I think disappearing was less painful…then this."
Light shook his head. "Fennix…please don't joke about that."
Amaranth ignored the conversation. "We're going to need to hurry, though." Light imagined that she was looking down the mountain. "If we're unlucky, the Blood Moon Bandits will be coming after us eventually, and if they happen to find us, we need to move at a moment's notice. So I can't exactly be gentle with this."
"W-what does that mean?" Fennix asked.
Amaranth chuckled darkly. "Have fun, you two."
"OOOWWWW!" Fennix howled while Amaranth worked on her.
"You know, if you stopped struggling so much, this would go so much easier," Amaranth growled.
"Well maybe if you were gentler, I wouldn't be struggling so much!" Fennix retorted.
Light sighed as he listened to their struggles. Amaranth had already finished patching him up from his injuries in Moonlit Forest and he was feeling extremely sore from it. Plus, all the various patches soaked in Oran Juice all over his body stung and Light had to resist the temptation to rub them. So he could easily guess what his partner was going through. Removing the splinters and twigs, placing the Oran patches all across her body— it wasn't a pleasant experience. And while the pikachu was able to go through with that uncomplainingly, Fennix was much less compliant with the impatient doctor.
"Alright…just a bit more…" Amaranth applied one last patch on Fennix's cheek, earning her another complaint from the kid. "Okay, you're good now. You can stop whining."
"Finally!"
Light looked over at Fennix, now that Amaranth was done with her, and saw the various patches all over her sides and cheeks. She seemed to have a fair fewer then Light had over his body, likely because the pikachu lead while she followed. Espurr, who Amaranth was inspecting next, managed to get off without anything more than a few twigs in her fur due to her smaller size.
"S-so…Amaranth?" Light asked. "I-I'm sorry if this sounds bad but…I was wondering. Do…do maybe…"
"Don't bother beating around the bush," Amaranth barked, her eyes still on Espurr. "I really don't care."
Light paused for a moment, his breath caught in his throat. "Then…do you know about the Blood Moon Bandits?"
"Yeah, you had no reason to worry about saying that," Amaranth dismissed. "I was an outlaw, I'll admit it. So it stands to reason that I might know about other outlaw groups. And you're right, I have heard of the Blood Moon Bandits."
"You have?!" Fennix asked.
"The Blood Moon Bandits were a bandit group that was rather infamous on the Grass Continent some…ten or twenty years ago." Amaranth removed the last twig from Espurr and put one patch on her, right next to her cheek. "Espurr, you should be good. The Psychic Block hasn't progressed any. So long as you calm down a little, you shouldn't have to worry too much."
"Alright, thanks," Espurr slurred.
Getting back on subject, Fennix asked, "Ten or twenty years ago?"
Amaranth finally looked from Espurr at Fennix and groaned. "Shaymin are terrible at telling the passing of time. I know it was somewhere around ten or twenty years ago, I just don't know when. Besides, they were a bandit group. They were probably active for a while."
"Can you continue?" Light asked.
"Yes." Amaranth directed her attention to Light. "Anyways, I mocked them when we were around them, and their name is rather stupid, but the Blood Moon Bandits aren't exactly a group you want to mess with. They were the terrors of the Grass Continent when they were around. Their infamy was great enough to even reach me in the Water Continent."
"What did they do?"
"A better question would be to ask what they didn't do. Granted, I can't exactly pretend I know everything they did. Being another continent away from them meant the only thing I heard were rumors, and I've never met a member of their crew until today, but the stories were horrific."
"She says in the most uncaring voice possible," Fennix groaned softly to herself.
Light noticed Espurr shiver before she spoke. "T-they mentioned making us slaves."
"Yeah, that's one of the things I've heard," Amaranth said, nodding her head in confirmation. "They'd kidnap everyone they could, some of which they sold, some of which they returned for a hefty ransom. And if they couldn't get money out of you, you'd become their slaves. I've only heard rumors of what exactly they did with their slaves, and I wouldn't exactly recommend thinking about it. I'd like not to give all you kids nightmares."
Light looked over the mountainside. "Well, they don't seem to be following us, at least."
"I wouldn't count us out of the woods yet. The only advantage we have is that they might, and this is a strong might, be relocating. Since we managed to escape and could inform the authorities at any moment, they could prioritize relocating over catching us. Depends on how badly we bruised their pride. They also might because they saw me communicating to Ampharos over my gadget and he's probably already told the cops on the Mist Continent about the outlaws. Of course, we don't know any of this for sure."
Fennix smiled pridefully. "I bet my fire also distracted them."
"One more question, though." Light grabbed out the Expedition Gadget from his scarf and looked at the map. "You told us that the Blood Moon Bandits used to be in the Grass Continent. We're almost as far away from there as possible in the known world. What exactly happened to them? And why are they here now?"
"That was two questions. And they're both answered with 'I don't know.' I told you, I wasn't a part of their crew. Even at my lowest, I still wasn't that low. I just one day stopped hearing about them. What made them disappear and why they're here now, I would have no clue. That being said, however…" Amaranth looked off in the sky, "I get the distinct feeling that both those things are connected. Not quite sure why, though."
"In any case," Amaranth turned her attention back to the group, "It's unlikely that we're going to find Espurr's parents there. And even if they are, there's no way the four of us would be able to go through all of the Blood Moon Bandits to find them. We'd need backup before even trying something like that."
"So, should we call in that friend of yours?" Light asked.
"I wouldn't exactly call her a friend, and we'll have to decide that later," Amaranth answered. "For now, we should rest while we can and go to Paradise Town. It's there where we'll decide our next move."
Author's note: So here the last of the setup has happened as we're introduced to the antagonists of this story, the Blood Moon Bandits. What they have to do with the story at large, you'll have to see later. But our protagonists narrowly avoid them and manage to escape. With Fennix lighting an entire forest on fire in order to aid them. Because that's just what she does.
Nah, but this does highlight a difference between three of the Pokemon here. Light is a thinker and planner, Espurr is knowledgeable, and Fennix is pragmatic, willing to do things that Light wouldn't (mostly because they're dangerous). Then there's Amaranth, who's mostly a wild card currently. We'll just have to see where this dynamic takes them in the future.
Beta read by TheGOAT.
