Desolate Canyon – Floor 2

"That was really lucky," Shido muttered under his breath as he tromped through the narrow tunnels. "Gosh, if it wasn't for Fumiaki passing by, I don't know where we would have gone."

"Probably somewhere completely different from here," Mirai grumbled back.

It had taken a while, but eventually, Shido and company had run into the foongus who run a stand in Post Town, Fumiaki. He sleepily told them Desolate Canyon was a bit further north; it had a sign saying so, too, so they wouldn't miss it. He then went back to dozing on a tree stump.

"Yaaa!" With a battlecry, Makou charged straight into a vullaby and smashed her fist into its midsection, sending the black-haired pokemon flying. "Hahah! Beat that! Twenty three!"

A swoosh of air sent a nearby litwick toppling over, hitting its head on a rock as Taylor flitted back down, finishing the Fly attack. He smirked. "Twenty four. Can't touch this."

"You didn't!" the sentret gasped, looking highly offended for some reason. "Okay! I won't lose either! Goooo, go, go Makou! Makou the sentreeeet!" She rushed straight towards an audino, picking up the screeching pinkette with great difficulty and flinging the pokemon halfway across the room. It crashed onto the rock wall and slid down, unconscious. "Okay! Twenty four!"

Taylor shook his head. "You take too much time. Thirty," he said, knocking a blitzle behind him unconscious at the same time. "Scratch that. Thirty one."

"You're no faaaair!" Makou whined. "If that's how you're gonna be, I'm just gonna… gonna…" the sentret stopped, looking around at the several other Wild Pokemon rapidly advancing towards her. "… gonna beat them all to the ground and make sure they don't get up!" Saying that, she yelled at the top of her lungs and dashed straight into a horde of archens.

"She's insane," Mirai said, just as she was fending off croagunk trying to jab her in the stomach with its poison-filled hand. "I can barely take out ten." Just then, she kicked the croagunk in the gut, sending it flying and crashing on the rock wall, similar to the audino Makou had taken out just seconds before. "Okay. Ten."

"Found it!" Shido shouted. "The stairs are over here! C'mon, guys!" He ran off without another word, the other three pokemon following him (Makou reluctantly doing so).

Desolate Canyon – Floor 6

"I HATE CANYONS," Mirai yelled.

"Mirai!" Shido chided. "Your voice!"

"I HATE CANYONS," Mirai repeated.

"Sixty two!" Makou said, jump-kicking a klang that had gone a bit too close to the sentret. "Okay, wait. Sixty three, I mean! Or sixty two? I don't remember. Ah, I got lost!"

"Seventy." The rufflet beside her jabbed his twin daggers in a foongus's midsection, causing the Wild Pokemon to cry out in pain before flopping down in a pool of its blood. Taylor sneezed, rubbing his nose. "Why do these foongus pokemon keep spitting those powders? They're so–" He sneezed once more. "So annoying."

"Don't breathe it in," Shido advised. "Foongus usually release death powders when they're killed. It takes a lot for the powders to actually kill you, but it's best to be safe."

"I HATE CANYONS," Mirai yelled.

"If you keep screaming that like a deranged pokemon, then more of these guys for me! Sixty five!" Makou had headbutted a blitzle, then yelped. "Ow, that hurts! Not gonna try that again next time…"

Desolate Canyon – Floor 8

It had taken quite a while, but the four of them had eventually made it to the very end of the Dungeon. After descending the stairs leading to the final floor, there was a narrow pathway to another large clearing. Mirai was about to clean her glasses when Shido gasped.

"Look!" the snivy pointed at a shady-looking pokemon; it was a blond with similar body structure to Kumo, yet a bit shorter and rounder. He was dressed incredibly carelessly; the yellow vest looked like it had been thrown on him and his ripped tan jeans with blue stripes on it were weathered to the point that it seemed as if it would fall any moment.

"Is that a… galvantula?" Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Galvantulas, here? What the meowth?"

"He's probs an outlaw," Makou whispered. "Galvantulas don't like snow, so there shouldn't be any here. And he looks pretty suspicious."

"Good point," Shido said. "I'll go up to him and make small talk, try to get some info out of him. If things go bad, don't try and fight him. He looks like he's guarding the entrance to the clearing, so just head on there while I distract him. Alright?"

The three pokemon nodded. The snivy swallowed and confidently stepped towards the blond.

"Huh? What's a pipsqueak like you doing here?" the galvantula asked. He crossed his arms, looking down at Shido threateningly. The snivy only smiled.

"I was just exploring a bit. What's going on over here, though? It's snowing, and I heard you guys don't like snow." Shido frowned, trying to look confused.

The galvantula shrugged. "M'boss is doing some stuff. Nothing that you should poke your snaky head in." He sneered. "Now why don't you run off and say bye-bye to your friends over there?"

"W-What?!" Turning around, Shido gasped as he saw another galvantula and two purple-haired pokemon restraining Mirai, Makou, and Taylor's actions. One of the venipedes stabbed Makou's arm with a poison sting, causing the sentret to cry out and kick its face weakly.

Shido turned back to look at the galvantula, who had a victorious smirk on his face. "Y-You…! Did you know about this beforehand?"

The blond tilted his head to look up to the sky. "Who knows? Maybe your other friends can say something about that."

"Wha…?" The snivy was about to ask more, but two short pokemon suddenly appeared from the clearing. They were identical twins, because they looked exactly alike, from the dull red hair and skin so pale it looked white. Even their clothes were the same.

Pawniard, Shido realized, his eyes widening. "The pawniard Taylor mentioned," he whispered to himself.

"What, another one?" The pawniard on the left groaned. "This time it's a whole horde of them. And they don't even look like they have a single poke on 'em. Whatever. Search them!"

The venipedes did just that, the galvantula backing away to allow them space. Mirai screamed as one of them poked in her blouse pocket. "Get away from me, you freak of nature! Arceus, I hate canyons!"

As none of the pokemon were planning to do much of anything after visiting the Queen, they hadn't brought much money with them, which resulted for all of forty poke to be snatched from Makou, who had wanted to use it for a drink on the way home. The pawniard scowled once he saw the miniscule amount of poke gathered and started striding over towards the frightened sentret, when his twin stopped him.

"Come on, they deserve it!" the pawniard exclaimed. "That zorua girl didn't have a dime on her and we've only salvaged ten poke from that dead body on the way here! Let me have at them!"

"Now," the second pawniard said patiently, as if he was used to this. "Look at it this way. It's snowing, see? It must be the work of the Queen. It's nearly turning into a hail by now, and it's only snowing in this area, so she must be here. As she's the Queen, she's bound to have enough money to fill us up for the next decade, so just be patient, alright, Rook?"

The pawniard, presumably Rook, huffed, but stood beside his brother and didn't advance. Makou let out an audible sigh of relief.

The second pawniard jerked his arm towards the clearing. "Take them there. Use all the force you need. The Queen will be coming soon, however, I can guarantee that, so try not to wear yourself out." He smiled, though it was definitely not a genuine one. "Queen as she may be, six on one is quite the favorable matchup." Without another word, the pawniard turned and walked away further, leaving the other pokemon.

"Well, you 'eard 'im," the galvantula spat. "Get these four idiots to the base. We can worry 'bout the Queen later."

The two venipedes nodded. Obediently, they strung several layers of silk string around the four until they were so tight Shido felt like he may burst. Mirai was clearly trying to snap the strings with her nails, but with Makou and Taylor pressing against her, she could barely breathe. The galvantula steered them towards the clearing, where they stared at the sight before them.

It was almost like a small town. There were five small buildings set up, each of them about the size of a warehouse, and looking like a warehouse at that. One was distinctively taller and bigger than the others, and was situated in the middle of the other four, which formed a sort of square. Few pokemon milled about outside, each looking shadier than the last.

The galvantula opened up the larger warehouse with a card key, swiping it on the slit and the metal sliding door screeched open, revealing a large area almost completely overtaken with wooden crates and boxes. The four of them were unceremoniously thrown inside, and before Mirai could even finish cursing, the door had slammed shut.

Unnerving silence.

"Uh," Shido said.

"Uh," Taylor said.

"I HATE CANYONS," Mirai said.

"Uh," Makou said.

After some violent tugging of the strings, Mirai had managed to loosen it enough for Shido, Taylor, and the axew herself to begin hacking away on the silk. It was surprisingly tough, even for venipede silk, but Shido had the sinking feeling the pawniards had something to do with it. It took quite some time, but they eventually managed to slice the strings off and venture freely in the warehouse.

"Ryuuko might be here," Makou said, raising a finger. "Should we look for her?"

"Why not just scour the entire warehouse while we're at it?" Taylor joked.

The other three pokemon nodded with completely serious looks on their faces and went off in different directions.

The rufflet stared as they actually started to do so. Sighing, he went off to one of the directions they hadn't looked through yet and proceeded to search the boxes.

Aside from crates, the warehouse was filled with random, miscellaneous items as well – ranging from aquarium tanks, microwaves, refrigerators, eggshells, televisions, couches, tables, and every other item that was physically possible to fit in a warehouse. Of course, that included small amounts of money here and there as well, which was entirely favorable for whoever found any, because finders keepers was the main rule they had established.

And then, after yelling their throats hoarse, they found Ryuuko.

Unconscious.

"ARCEUS DAMMIT ALL TO HELL!" Mirai screamed.

"For our sake, Mirai, I humbly request you keep your trap shut or I'll make it," Taylor snapped.

After a bit of poking and prodding (read: a lot of poking, prodding and kicking), the zorua eventually woke up. Her face scrunched up and she wrinkled her nose, before her eyes opened drowsily to stare up at the four pokemon hovering above her. She let out a yelp and scrambled backwards, only to hit her head against a crate. She winced slightly, then stood up, leaning against the crate for support.

"What's–" she coughed. "What happened? I… I don't remember much…"

"Just tell us what you do," Shido gently coaxed.

Ryuuko nodded. "Right, um… I was running… running away, I think. I don't know why, I just started running all of a sudden because that felt like the most logical thing to do in that situation."

"It really wasn't, but we'll talk about that later," Mirai interrupted. Taylor kicked her ankle and she glared at the rufflet.

"Then… I went to the crossroads. I was going to stay near Paradise, but I was tired after running all that way, so I rested for a bit. Then…" Ryuuko scowled as she struggled to remember more. "I… I felt my head hurt a lot. And then… that's it. I don't remember much else after that…"

"That's fine, we can piece everything together after that." Taylor smiled reassuringly. "To fill you in, we're in the end of Desolate Canyon. You've been caught by a small-time band of robbers, along with us, and we're currently locked in a warehouse."

The zorua raised an eyebrow. "You're strangely calm about all this."

"Trust me, we're not," Makou said, pointing at Mirai discreetly.

"Right," Shido hurried to say as Ryuuko chuckled. "So, we have… no idea how we're going to get out here. Um, one of the pokemon who caught us said that the Queen was coming soon because of the weather or something. I have no idea how they predicted that, but they're pretty sure about it, so…"

"The weather?" Ryuuko hissed, her eyes wide and her eyes getting darker and darker by the moment until it turned into a shade that dangerous resembled the ocean floor. "What is it? Snowing?" Before anyone could even nod, the zorua had leapt up to a crate and closed her eyed. Her ears perked up and she waited a few seconds before she reopened them and gritted her teeth. "… Satsuki."

"What?" Makou tilted her head. "What does she even…? Ryuuko, I'm confused…"

"Is there anything we can help with?" Shido asked. "I'm not quite sure what the problem is anymore, but… we'd like to help if we can."

Ryuuko shook her head fiercely. "No. This is my problem. I brought it upon myself and I'm not letting anyone else try to solve it for me." A sudden swirl of red dust settled on Ryuuko's palm, and in the blink of an eye, the Scissor Sword was there.

It was blood red, and shaped like one half of a pair of scissors, of course. The tip was frighteningly sharp, curving up slightly as it glinted in the dim light that flickered above them. Ryuuko gripped the handle tightly she had to whisper an apology to it.

"C'mon, Senketsu," she murmured. "It's our turn to save Satsuki's ass."

The zorua leapt forward, jabbing the tip of the sword straight onto the steel walls. Nobody honestly expected anything to happen, but the sword pierced right through, creating a small enough hole. Light filtered through it, causing Ryuuko to squint as she drove the sword further out (in?), enlarging the hole bit by bit until it was finally big enough for the sword to pull through. She drew a large circle around the perimeter of the hole and slashed right through it, blasting the steel circle off and a klang sounded from outside.

Shutting her eyes at the sudden light, Mirai scrambled up to get to the same height as the zorua. "Hey, scissor girl, care to tell us exactly what you're planning? 'Cause I doubt you're really going to be able to 'save Satsuki's ass' when you're just gonna charge out there and cut every single pokemon you find with that sword of yours!"

Ryuuko turned to look back at the axew, her eyes flaring. "Shut up! This isn't your fight, so stay out of it!"

"How is it not our fight if we're friends?!"

"F–what?" Shido exclaimed. "Friends? I…" He remained speechless for a while, then smiled. "Well. Mirai's getting the hang of this."

"Friends?" the zorua spat, attempting to sound as if she didn't care; but Mirai knew, she had seen that glimmer of hesitation in Ryuuko's ocean-floor eyes, the twitch of her arms as she said that, the tremble of her knees. "Who said we were friends? We're just acquaintances! You helped me once!"

"I let you stay in my house," Mirai started, counting on her fingers for emphasis. "I let you eat my food. I let you read my books. I let you sleep in the guest room before you stayed in the inn. I went with you when you were going to the Queen. I talked with you, laughed with you, called you by your name, and you have the nerve to go around saying we're not friends." The axew stared into Ryuuko's eyes harshly. "I honestly think something is very, very wrong with you because however way you see it, we're friends, and that's not something that is going to change anytime soon."

The zorua shook her head vehemently, and Mirai could see the twinkling of tears in the corner of her eyes. "No! No, no, no… no, NO!" she screamed, collapsing to her knees, her sword falling to her side with an echoing clang. "I'm… I'm not… I'm not your friend! I'm not anyone's friend! Just LEAVE ME ALONE!" The weather outside, which had escalated to a hailstorm, seemed to worsen, if that was possible. "I can't… I can't be anyone's friend! Useless, useless… I'm not your friend!"

"Friend? Who said we were friends? You're so gullible if you actually think I was being friends with you. It was all an act, you stupid freak; no one would want to be friends with someone like you!"

"You see, Ryuuko, love, friendship… those are all useless things. They only hinder you from what you need. Release them, and never feel them. There are pokemon out there who will use those to gain advantage over you, and you must not let that happen. Don't feel, Ryuuko. Don't feel."

"Your parents abandoned you because they never loved each other, or you. That's common sense, Ryuuko. It's so obvious I thought even someone like you would have figured that out! They only married each other to teach you, Ryuuko, that love isn't permanent. Hell, love friendship, all that stuff? Fake. Completely fake. Those are just tools to use to get what you want."

"Ryuuko," Mirai breathed. The words had drifted into her ears all of a sudden, whispering thoughts she knew weren't hers, and before she could stumble over to the sobbing zorua, a brown blur had already beaten her to it.

"Ryuuko. No, no, it's okay, it's okay. Those weren't true," Makou consoled, stroking the black-haired pokemon's hair. She wailed, gripping tighter to the sentret's vest. "It's alright. I'm here now. You don't–" Makou sniffled. "You don't have to worry anymore. I'm here for you."

"Makou," Ryuuko cried out. "Arceus, Makou. I don't–I don't deserve you." Another round of sobs wracked her frame as she curled up into a ball, her head resting on Makou's lap. The sentret patted Ryuuko's head comfortingly, then shot a meaningful look towards the gaping Mirai, Shido, and Taylor.

"Okay, Ryuuko," Shido said confidently as he straightened, crossing his arms. "We are going out there and we're going to help Satsuki out. You will not do anything. Then again, it's not like you can do anything right now, but whatever. As I was saying, you will not do anything. Stay here with Makou and don't even try to fight anyone. You've carried the burden all on your own for too long, and now it's our turn to help you out."

"Shido–" the zorua hiccupped. "I–"

"You don't get a say in this," Taylor interjected smoothly, arms crossed and head held high. "You've done enough, and I believe it's time you start investing in a little something we call rest."

Mirai strode over to the zorua and huffed. "You are so difficult," she said. "If I wasn't your friend I would have kicked your pretty little face all the way to the human world. Trust me, I am perfectly capable of that."

Without another word, Mirai jumped off towards the large hole and leapt downwards, landing neatly on the ground, Shido and Taylor following soon after. Makou gazed after them, stroking Ryuuko's hair as the zorua let out a sigh.

"I don't know why I'm still alive, after all this time," Ryuuko said, her voice muffled.

Makou only smiled. "It's okay, Ryuu. It's okay." She paused. "You know, Satsuki likes you, too… she just isn't going to say it until you do."

"She's not my friend," Ryuuko protested.

"No, your crush," Makou corrected cheerily.

Ryuuko's breakdown had taken about two or so minutes, so when the three pokemon had climbed down, they found themselves completely surrounded by the two pawniards, two galvantulas, and two venipedes.

"This looks bad," Shido squeaked.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Rook cackled, his hands gripping the hilts of two long (and very, very sharp) katanas. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you enjoy this." He licked the blade of one of his weapons, sending a shiver up Mirai's spine.

The battle started and ended within minutes. The second pawniard had rushed forward and just narrowly missed slashing Mirai's head off, hitting her shoulder instead, where a large gash spurting blood appeared. She screamed, clutching the wound as she stumbled to the side, her legs giving out. Crumpling to the ground, the axew glared up at the other pawniard who stood over her.

Shido was at a disadvantage, too – the venipedes had gone ahead and summoned half a dozen poison stings each, sending them flying towards the grass-type snivy. Yelping, he scrambled backward and hid behind a rock as the stings narrowly missed him. Letting out a sigh of relief, Shido nervously peeked out from the rock, but then felt a stinging sensation on his knees. Glancing downwards, he only managed to see the telltale purple of the toxic spikes planted there before falling unconscious.

Taylor was doing a bit better, but not by much. He had switched to one of his favorite battle tactics, flying around everywhere and dodging each thundershock the galvantulas sent him, which he saw with satisfaction was greatly annoying them. Eventually, one of the electric spiders summoned a Thunder straight towards him and he easily flew out of the way, diving straight for the panting galvantula and slicing it on the back with his twin daggers.

While it did take out one, he was left wide open for the other.

A electrical bolt struck him on the side, leaving him screeching and collapsing to the ground. The thunderbolt had caught him completely off guard, and the remaining galvantula took the chance to string a spider web around him, effectively trapping the rufflet. Another thunderbolt knocked Taylor out completely.

"Ridiculously easy," Rook spat, walking over to Mirai and kicking her face. The axew winced, but dared not show any other sign of weakness. "Arceus, Chess. Why did we bother with this again?"

The other pawniard, Chess, crossed his arms and stared down at Mirai judgmentally. Mirai glared right back. "We could use them to lure out the Queen," he said slowly.

"Ha! The Queen?" Mirai exclaimed, a sneer dominating her features. "As if. The Queen couldn't give two damns about us! Hell, she probably doesn't even know I exist."

"Then why is it snowing?" Chess asked softly. "The Queen has, likewise, no other reason to be here. But she is in the Desolate Canyon, and her reason is most likely because she has business here."

"With us," Rook added.

Mirai gritted her teeth. "Suit yourself. But it's not us she's after, obviously. One of you probably stole her underwear today or something."

"Of course she's not after you, or any of you, or any of us." Chess smirked. "In fact, I highly doubt she's here for anything other than to take a look around. But we do. We have a reason for switching base here."

"And what is that?" the axew grumbled.

"You."

"Stooooop! Stop, stop, stop!"

"The hell?" Rook snapped, turning to look behind him. Mirai craned her neck to glance behind her as well, but Chess stepped forward to obscure her vision.

A blue blur came stumbling over, her Pecha Scarf whipping here and there in the wind. The mudkip almost tripped over the piles of snow gathering on the ground, but stayed upright, holding out what looked like a badge with wings in front of her. "Stop! In the name of Team Defenders, I order you to stop!" Behind her, a cyndaquil followed, panting and huffing tiredly.

"What?" Rook laughed. "Who the hell do you guys think you are? Team Defenders? Never heard of 'em!" Another bout of cackling as Chess stepped forward.

"And now nobody ever will." He unsheathed his katanas with an audible shing, as if intentionally trying to frighten the duo. The mudkip, however, didn't even blink. "I don't know why you're here, but if you intend on stopping us, then we shall."

The mudkip grinned. "That's my line. Let's do this, Quil!"

"No, wait–" Before the cyndaquil – Quil, presumably – could say much else, the mudkip had already jumped backwards, summoning a whirlpool around her and shooting water guns towards the pawniards. Quil sighed. "Okay, fine…"

The cyndaquil charged forward, shooting flames at the two pawniards and readying the saber he held in his hand. Rook hissed as one of the embers singed his arm. "You little brat! Jolt, Irma, get them!"

"What, now?!" the galvantula, Jolt, growled. "'E's super effective on all of us! Ya think anyone can even near 'im?!"

"I don't care!" Rook shouted, stunning the electric spider pokemon. "Just kill him already! Or – do something, you useless pokemon!"

"Fine," the venipede, Irma, muttered. "It's your own fault you can't even touch him, anyway. Annoying little sh–"

Before she could continue her sentence (which, undoubtedly, would have ended in a similar fashion as to Mirai's), a plume of fires hit her straight on the face, causing the venipede to topple over. Shrieking, Irma swung her arm and sent a dozen poison stings over to Quil, who narrowly dodged most of them, ending up with two on his right arm and one on his leg. Although he gritted his teeth from the pain, he rushed forward, slashing at the venipede with his flaming saber. Irma let out one last screech before crumpling to the ground, motionless.

"No!" the other venipede ran over to Irma, his expression clearly distraught. "No, no... sis! Wake up! Sis, are you… are you okay?! Wake up!"

Irma didn't move.

The venipede's neck turned to look up at Quil so fast there was a snap. He blinked away the tears in his eyes as he glared murderously at the cyndaquil. "You're – You're… a monster!"

A monster. A monster.

He barely registered the galvantula sneaking up on him and sending bolts of electricity towards his unmoving body, didn't hear the mudkip's cry of "Reinforcements!", didn't see, hear, feel –

Arceus, it was happening all over again.

"I didn't kill her!" he yelled. The venipede jumped back, eyes narrowed but clearly surprised at Quil's sudden outburst. "I didn't kill her… I didn't, I didn't, I didn't–"

"Of course he didn't, I don't d-die from stupid ember attacks from cyndaquils," a weak, raspy voice spat out. Irma struggled back to her feet, face scorched and torso suffering from a large, bleeding gash, but alive. The younger venipede, shocked, stepped closer to his elder sister with confusion etched on his face. Irma turned to look down at him, smirking. "Come on, Cedric. You really thought I was dead? You're too gullible for your own good, you know?"

Cedric stood there stock-still, but quickly shook his head and tensed into a battle stance. "That – That's not important right now! We have a fight to win!"

"Right." Irma patted his head. "Fine, then. Let's wreck this."

Miyuki wasn't a big fan of bug-types, thanks to their resistance towards fighting-type attacks (which she still couldn't wrap her mind around; how can bugs resist a good old-fashioned karate chop on the head?), but the galvantula was another thing.

The mienfoo already had her bow and arrows out, firing them one after the other towards the one they called Jolt. He hissed as several arrows ripped through his clothes, but unexpectedly enough, he withdrew a spear-like weapon and swung it towards Miyuki. She jumped to the side, but the spear followed her and it sent her crashing onto a rock wall, electricity sizzling around her midsection as Jolt pulled the spear back.

"M-Ma'am?" Emiko, her teammate of Team Fate and a flaaffy, called. "Are – Are you okay? Do you need–"

"Get out!" Miyuki shouted as the electrically-surged spear tip came flying towards their direction once more. The flaaffy screamed, before the spear crashed against a greenish transparent barrier, sending it careening back to Jolt. The galvantula growled, running over towards the two pokemon himself.

The mienfoo shoved Emiko out of the way as she slammed the side of her hand on the galvantula's face, then jabbing him in the gut with her other hand. Jolt cried out in pain, but sent a weak electric surge towards Miyuki, who stumbled backwards in surprise. She tried to summon a Focus Blast, but found she could barely even move her arms or legs.

"Emiko!" she shouted. The flaaffy quickly submitted, rushing over to Miyuki's front and summoning an Electro Ball towards the galvantula. Jolt didn't even flinch; he crashed straight on Emiko, who, in turn, didn't budge an inch. The galvantula sprung back, surprised, but with his guard down, Miyuki had rushed forward and sent a beam of pure, white energy straight on his face. Jolt crumpled to the ground within seconds.

Meanwhile, the other members of Team Fate were facing off against the other galvantula. Lyon the treecko and Barrett the skorupi were both paralyzed and at the mercy of Peter, the younger and more sadistic galvantula. The electric spider pokemon giggled girlishly as he skittered behind the two pokemon, clapping his hands in glee as he sent silk strings sneaking around the pokemon.

"Heehee~ honestly, you two are part of a Team? I didn't know pokemon sunk that low nowadays!" Another bout of insane laughter. "This cracks me up! If I were still a joltik, you'd probably still be nothing close to a threat!"

"You think you're better than me?" the skorupi spat. "Well then, prove it!" In the blink of an eye, he had summoned a dripping ball of slime and goo and threw it straight on the galvantula's face, blinding him with poison as it dripped in his eyes. Peter screeched, flailing around blindly and releasing his electrical hold on the two pokemon, allowing Lyon to rush forward and send a point-blank Energy Ball to the face.

Kip had easily taken care of the two pawniards, strangely enough. She was more used to long-range attacking, as opposed to Rook and Chess, who used katanas for attacking, so all she did was jump away every now and then if they got too close and send blasts of water towards them to momentarily blind them. Then she'd move over behind one of the pawniards to avoid being seen before sneak-attacking them.

Rook had fallen first, after a considerably short amount of time due to super-effective Mud Slaps, and Chess had practically flew forward at the mudkip for that. She had a bit more trouble dodging his rapid slashes and had gotten quite the number of cuts and gashes for that, but her quick thinking and a critical-hit whirlpool had sent the elder pawniard to unconsciousness.

Quil had held back greatly with the venipedes, not even bothering to attack anymore and simply dodging and defending himself. Cedric had gone all-out, sending Venoshock after poisonous Venoshock at the cyndaquil while Irma had to use some of her weaker moves to avoid exertion. Eventually, Quil had gotten a Venoshock straight to the shoulder and instinctively sent a burst of embers on Cedric, causing him to topple over and fall unconscious. Irma had followed soon after, with a great deal of hesitation of Quil's part.

The snowstorm had gradually died down, soon to nothing more than a light snow. Mirai, Shido, and Taylor had all fallen unconscious (or, in Shido's case, a poisonous kind of unconscious) and had been moved to inside the large warehouse to prevent even more damage. Ryuuko and Makou had come out in a frenzy after hearing about their friends' status, but calmed down when they realized Barrett had grudgingly healed Shido with a Pecha Berry he had nabbed from somewhere.

And then they realized those six pokemon weren't the only ones in this Arceusdamn canyon.

"Get them somewhere safe!" Miyuki barked as Lyon and Emiko nodded, carrying the three injured pokemon to a hidden corner in the warehouse (it was called hidden mainly because it was practically showered with useless items like empty boxes and tanks). A roselia had fired a dozen thorns over at the mienfoo, and she ran to the side to avoid being hit. Even after she had taken it out with a Stone Edge, she knew they couldn't possibly take out all these pokemon. Quantity over quality did work sometimes.

Clack.

A wave of water suddenly engulfed the enemy pokemon, drowning most of them to their deaths while a select few water-types swam back to a deeper section of the warehouse. Lyon and Emiko easily found them and Energy Ball'd them to the face or sent several half-hearted Thunderbolts to paralyze them to submission.

Once the sudden Surf attack had dispersed entirely (although it left a wet, disgruntled mienfoo and a very, very annoyed skorupi), a tall figure came into view. Her long blue hair flowed behind her elegantly and her purple, cloud-like cape framed by two white ribbons followed closely. Satsuki stared at the shocked Team Fate sternly, before her expression softened and her grip on her blue-and-white sword loosened.

"Where is Ryuuko?" she asked slowly. At the mention of her name, the zorua came tumbling out, face red (for two different reasons) and eyes wide. Makou followed soon after.

"What – What are you doing here?" she asked, not unkindly. Ryuuko swallowed, straightening her dress. "Anyway, you're – you were a bit late to the party. Where've you been all this time? Don't tell me a newbie Team came here before the Queen did." The zorua huffed. "Honestly." Makou giggled.

The suicune let out a relieved sigh. "You… You seem to be fine, thankfully enough… what about everyone else?" She took a look around, taking in the surprised mienfoo, the irritated skorupi, the wide-eyed flaaffy, and the speechless treecko. "… they seem to be fine, at most. Aren't there more of you?"

"O-Oh, yeah," Miyuki stammered. "There's Quil and – and, Kip, I think they're – they're upstairs. And – that snivy and axew and rufflet, I think the sentret is with them too – they're resting somewhere in here, uh–"

"Yes, that's fine," Satsuki interjected gently, looking quite amused. "Well then… my business here is done, I believe. I shall be off no–"

"Ahh! What do you think you're doing?!" A feminine voice shouted. A green blue came running out the warehouse before stopping directly in front of the surprised suicune, quickly followed by a stumbling Kip who halted short in her tracks after catching sight of the Queen. "Uh–?! I mean… Shido!"

The snivy straightened, though still panting slightly. "S – Miss Satsuki! Wait, just…" He breathed deeply for a few more seconds before continuing. "Thanks for – for saving us! We couldn't have done it without you." He smiled brightly, though he still had sweat running down the side of his head. Behind him, Kip crossed her arms and sighed.

Satsuki smiled softly. "You're welcome. Consider it payment for… helping me out." She glanced at Ryuuko, who looked away pointedly.

"Oh, that's right!" the snivy turned to look at the zorua, smile still etched on his face. "Ryuuko, Makou! Would you guys like to join our Team?"

"Would we what?" the zorua yelped.

"Sure!" the sentret grinned.

"Awesome." Shido paused. "Awesome! Oh, man, that's five members in our unofficial Team now! We can actually make it official! This… This is so cool! It's my dream come true!"

"Hey, wait, why are you counting me?" Ryuuko protested. "I didn't even say yes yet!"

"Yet," Makou emphasized.

Ryuuko remained silent before responding, "Oh, fine. Might as well, anyway."

"Yes!" Shido cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "This is awesome!"

"Excuse me," Satsuki said quietly. "I have a question."

"Hm? Fire away." Shido tilted his head, though still smiling.

"May I join your Team as well?"

Silence.

And then another bit of silence.

"WHAT?!" The majority of the pokemon looking on yelled.

Shido stared straight into Satsuki's eyes, utterly speechless with his jaw hanging wide open comically. He quickly regained his senses and asked slowly, "If you don't mind me asking, why?"

The suicune mulled it over for a bit before replying. "I… I saw the way you looked so happy when Ryuuko and Makou accepted your offer. Like you said, it was as if your biggest dream had just come true. And… I've thought for a very long time that other pokemon will just use your feelings and emotions to manipulate you to do their will. I thought… life worked that way. That you'd always be used and once you've served your purpose, you'll be disposed of accordingly.

"But apparently, for you, that is not the case. You value your friends and you trust others so easily that if I would put it in harsh words, you're way too gullible for your own good. But you look so happy, and I haven't seen anyone look like that for so long that… that the little part of me that still believes in hope and friendship and love just yearned to be… to be one of the pokemon you'd share that happiness with. My heart ached to… to be able to smile and laugh again, and not just conceal my emotions like what I've done for the past eighteen years.

"I hope you'll accept me." Satsuki hesitated for a while, before a small, but genuine smile crept on her face.

Shido grinned elatedly. "Of course! Why wouldn't I? Welcome to the Team, all of you!"

"Wait, what?" Mirai yelped from the entrance of the warehouse, a few ways away from them. "What's going on here? Team? What?"

"Your friend invited the Queen to your Team," Barrett explained from beside her. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. "Lucky little ba–"

"Okay, okay," Miyuki interrupted, annoying the skorupi visibly. "This is just too much to take in. The Queen? In a Team that isn't Team Fate? I'm taking offense to this."

"No you're not," Emiko chided.

Taylor flitted beside Mirai, followed by a quiet Quil. After taking in the situation, he sighed and facepalmed. "With all that's happening, I may as well join your Team too…"

"Oh, sure," Mirai said offhandedly. "I don't think Shido would mind. You're practically a part of the Team too, anyway, what with how much you hang out with us."

"What, really?" the rufflet exclaimed, his face lighting up. "Whoa, thanks! Been looking for a Team to join for some time. Wasn't expecting it to be this easy."

Mirai shrugged, waving a hand in the air nonchalantly. "Mm. I'm hungry now… hey, Shido, should we eat in the inn again?"

Yeah, so, this one took a bit longer, but I think you can see why exactly.

Gee, the one who's causing all this snow still hasn't been explicitly revealed, huh? I wonder why? *cackles insanely* My rambling from last time must have been a little joke! But that's so weird, I mean, why would I have made a 'little' joke during April Fools' Day?! *more insane laughter*

... Okay, I admit, I made absolutely no sense there... but anyway. So, the DEV (Dunsparce-Emolga-Virizion) arc is over, thank you Arceus. Do you all know what this means? Companion Mode voting! Yay! You can vote for anyone who has been officially introduced so far, except for maybe the villains, because they'll probably be in Poke-Jail next chapter or whatever. And... yeah!

Also, for anyone who cares? Word Count: 6500+ words. I think you can see now why it took a bit longer to get this chapter up. Well, four days isn't exactly very long, is it...

I also drew Ryuuko! I'll get the picture up on my profile, so check there later if you feel like seeing what she looks like.

Marei, 4/5/14