A/N: Hey guys, it's Blox! Sorry for the long wait between chapters, I got caught up with other stuff and started Splintered Bonds. I'll be trying to write as much as I can, but I'm not sure how consistent it will be. :(

Anyways, onto the story!

Sans woke up, stretched out on a nice mattress bed, the sheets covering his body. After enjoying a nice, plentiful feast with Cameron's family, he and the others went straight to bed while Cameron talked with his parents. Thank god; Sans swore he slept to at least noon.

Sans jolted his head to the right as he hears someone knocking on the bedroom door. He adjusts his mask and stays silent for a couple minutes, before hearing a sigh and footsteps going away from the door.

"hey…?"

The footsteps stop and the figure quickly comes back.

"Sans, you're finally awake!" chirped Amber. "Come on, lunch is ready!"

"lunch?! what about breakfast?"

"You slept past breakfast!"

"that's a shame."

Sans rolled out of bed and onto the floor, the room resonating with a thud.

"Sans?! You okay?"

"yeah. just too lazy to walk."

"Ugh, hurry up! I'm hungry and I'm waiting for you!"

"okay geez amber, you don't need to wait for me you know."

Instead of getting up and walking to the door, Sans decided to roll his way to the door.

"okay, ready."

"Sans, did you literally roll out of bed?"

"uh…maybe?"

"Fine, whatever. Let's go."

Sans' eye glowed in the back of his head as he used his telekinesis to open the door. Amber was standing on the other side, her bag strapped over her bag.

"hey amber."

"Hurry up!"

Sans forced himself to his feet then trudged to follow her.

"ok."

"Cameron's mom made lunch Sans!"

"wow."

"…You don't seem the same Sans. You okay?"

Amber turned back to Sans gave him a worried look. He didn't really want to disappoint her, but he had been thinking about the sunset thoughts the entire night, and got very little sleep, although that seemed like something he was used to…

"yeah, i'm good."

"Not a good night?"

"ugh, you got me."

"Hee hee!"

The pair walked downstairs to the kitchen, where Faith, Papyrus, Cameron, and Cameron's parents were already waiting.

"Oh my god! Sandwiches!" Amber sprinted to the table and jumped onto a seat.

"Can I eat one?"

"Not yet Amber," replied Cameron's mom, "we should wait for Sans."

Sans wasn't exactly in the speediest mood.

"NYEH HEH HEH! SANS, I'M HUNGRY! HURRY UP SO WE CAN START!"

"just…gimme a sec."

Sans faceplanted at the bottom of the stairs and tried to fall back asleep, but both Amber and Papyrus grabbed his hood and dragged him to the table.

"darn."

"Okay, now can I eat?"

"Sure."

"LET'S DIG IN!" shouted all of Team Green as they voraciously chomped down the sandwiches.

"So…" began Cameron's dad as he took a bite out of a fish sandwich. "Where are you kids off to today?"

"We're going to e-." began Faith. Sans looked over to see her catching Cameron's sideways glance, then proceeding to stop in the middle of her sentence.

"We're just visiting the area. We're on a basic retrieval assignment from up top." Faith took a bite out of her sandwich.

"Anywhays, whee jrust wanted to lorrk around."

"Faith, please talk without food in your mouth," groaned Cameron, who nibbled at the bread crust.

Cameron's dad suddenly cleared his throat and stood up.

"I know you didn't quit Cameron…but we still had a deal. And as a result…you'll have to go through with what we agreed with."

Cameron, in a sudden burst of anger, jolted upwards and slammed the table.

"The DEAL? I never broke any sort of deal!"

"You came home, even though we told you that you couldn't return home if you joined, especially if you quit."

"But DAD, I didn't quit!"

"Young man, you better keep your mouth shut. The only reason I took you in last night is because I couldn't turn down your friends. If it was just you, however, I wouldn't have been so merciful."

Sans' gaze drifted between the father and son. Tensions were high in the room; nobody else dared to speak or even move an inch.

"Dad, this has been one of my dreams for my entire life!"

"And I told you that-."

"No. Enough." Cameron turned away, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm old enough to choose my fate."

"As long as you are in this house, you abide by my rules Cameron, not yours. Do you understand?"

Nobody spoke, until Cameron finally gave in and slumped down, looking at his feet.

"Yes Dad."

"Good. Now go."

Cameron slid off of his chair and slowly made his way towards the stairs, not looking up the entire time. Faith and Amber looked at each other for a moment before they both nodded and ran to go after him.

"No, he has to do this alone." Cameron's dad stood up and looked at the two girls, who were about to scurry after him.

"You aren't…grounding him, are you?" asked Amber, half-scared.

"No, of course not." Cameron's dad shook his head and chuckled. "You guys should go down to the city anyways. I'm sure you have preparations to do."

Sans froze mid-bite in his sandwich and looked around the table. The only one who wasn't disrupted was Papyrus.

"Hm? Oh, I guess you're right." Faith turned Amber around by the shoulder and they both walked towards Sans and Papyrus.

"Guys, let's go down to the pier. We should restock on items before we…get the item and return back to home base."

Sans looked at her confused before realizing that Cameron's dad didn't know that they were actually here on a rescue assignment. He grabbed his brother by the scarf and pulled him down to the floor.

"NYEH?!"

"come on bro…we have somewhere to go."

"OK SANS…"

The group, minus Cameron, navigated their way back to the front door and exited into the sounds of the river gushing below. Sans could see the town bustling with activity, Pokémon going about doing their daily work.

The entire descent from Empoleon Castle was silent until they saw Lapras waiting for them by the dock.

"lapras…how did you know that we needed a ride?"

Lapras shrugged. "I had a hunch. Where's Cameron?"

"His dad's making him…do something upstairs," chirped Amber. "Don't really know what it is." Amber hopped onto Lapras' shell, gesturing for Sans to join her. Sans swore Lapras' expression showed a sign of shock and worry, but it was gone as fast as it came.

"Well…are you coming or not?!"

"um, yeah." Sans clambered slowly onto Lapras and sat next to Amber, who shuffled nervously in the water. Papyrus and Faith climbed on towards the front of the shell as Lapras began swimming away from the castle, not speaking a single word.

Amber leaned towards Sans and went up close to his ear.

"Ya know," she whispered, "I'm a bit worried about Cameron. It seems like his parents are pretty strict and they're making him do something he's dreading."

"i can't really tell you i've had any first-hand experience with that."

Sans sat up and laid down, letting the midday sun warm his body and relax his muscles.

"do either of you have parents like that?"

Amber looked into the distance, while Faith turned to face Sans.

"Not really, my parents were always quite supportive." She gave Sans a smile and turned back to talk to Papyrus.

"whaddabout you amber?"

Amber sighed and turned to Sans.

"Well…you see…u-uh…" Amber struggled to speak, stammering every word as if they pained her to say.

"hey, if you aren't comfortable speaking about it, it's okay." Sans shrugged.

"i mean, i don't have any parents. it's just me and paps, two bros."

"NYEH HEH HEH! THAT'S RIGHT! UH…WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PARENTS?"

Sans darted his eyes around as he thought of a quick explanation.

"ya know, mom died, that's where…i got this." He nudged his skull mask. "dad…dunno where he went. right paps?"

"YEH!"

Amber gave him a sweet smile before turning away again. Her red fur and tail rippled as the ocean breeze rushed by.

"Must have been tough…huh?" Her voice carried a much calmer tone, something Sans wasn't used to. Amber was normally pretty aggressive and direct, so hearing this threw him a curveball.

"eh…sometimes, but paps and i can get by on our own."

Faith shruggled and laughed.

"Don't know about that Sans," she remarked, "you two were knocked out in that cave."

"hey, that doesn't count!"

"Just keep telling that to yourself. Maybe my friend Lyra could help you with that; she's pretty self-sufficient."

All four of them laughed and let off some steam, Lapras even joining in on some of the fun. After it was done, Sans sat back up and saw that they were almost back to the city, eyeing the port they left from yesterday. He turned to look at Amber, but that moment of vulnerability, similar to what he saw the other day, was already gone, replaced with her normal curious, reckless abandon.

"EEEEEE! I wonder what we'll find here!" She jumped up and down in glee as she hopped off the boat onto the dock.

"Relax Amber, we have a set list of things to find," said Faith. "We should also check-in with the local Union branch to make sure things back at home are up to date."

"Ugh, fiiiiiine, but don't expect me to wait! Cameron told me all about the things the shops here have to offer with access to the port! I heard they have some items from completely different continents!"

Faith sighed and turned to Sans, looking at him with desperation.

"Watch her, will ya? Papyrus and I will go shopping at the local Kecleon's. You make sure she doesn't get into trouble."

"sure, whatever."

Faith grabbed a few dozen gold coins from the adventure bag, put them in a smaller pouch, and tossed it to Sans.

"I hope that isn't all gone when we're done."

Faith grabbed Papyrus' hand and dragged him off towards who-knows-where, while Faith was left jumping in place, her bag jolting up and down with her."

"Saaaans, you aren't going to be a party pooper too, right?"

Sans looked at Amber as she ran around, full to the brim with excitement.

"no…just don't go too crazy."

As soon as he spoke, Amber had already dashed away, running into the criss-crossing roads of Lapras Port. He ran in to try and find her, but by the time he'd reached the first crossing, she was nowhere to be seen. Other Pokémon were walking around, making it hard for Sans to see her.

"ugh…i need a better vantage point." He darted his eyes around, spotting a taller structure in the middle of town.

"bingo." Sans closed his eyes and focused his energy into teleporting, then warped himself to the roof of the building. He looked around the streets, but he didn't see Amber anywhere.

Suddenly, a dash of orange, red, and yellow flew across his vision. He quickly teleported to where the blur was heading, and sure enough, he saw Amber flying down the street, running past multiple surprised Pokémon.

"Coming throooough! Sorrrrry!"

Sans stepped in front of her and looked her directly in the eye as she ran directly at him.

"amber, stop! you're gonna bulldoze someone!"

"Erk! Sans, I can't stop running!" She continued to run at him at lightning speed. "WATCH OUT!"

Amber crashed into Sans, sending them tumbling down the road.

"Urk!"
"Hff…"

They slowly rolled to a stop, just before sliding off one of the piers. Sans slowly stood up while grabbing his back, dusting his hoodie off with his free hand in the process.

"ow…try not to do that again." Sans looked over the sparkling ocean water as he awaited Amber's response.

"…amber?"

Still no response.

"…you okay-."

He turned to find her, but as soon as he looked she tackled him back to the ground with a resounding thud, scaring the crap out of him.

"oh…my…god…you've got to be kidding me."

"Haha! Gotchu!" She danced around above him. "C'mon lazypants! There's one place I know I want to check out here!"

Amber bit Sans' hoodie and began dragging him down the road, his feet bumping as she ran along.

"could-you-please-stop-."

"No!"

"come on!"

Amber suddenly dropped Sans' hoodie, dropping his head to the ground. He winced through the pain and stood up to look at the sign of a store they had stopped at.

"carbink…stone shop?"

Amber jumped up and down faster than Sans had ever seen in his life.

"Yeaaaaah! They sell these really cool and rare stones that can do some pretty amazing things!"

She turned to a silent Sans.

"Aren't you coming in?!"

"yea…just don't buy anything. this stuff looks expensive."

"Don't worry you big baby, we'll be in and out."

Sans followed Amber into the shop, passing through a red curtain that served as the door. Inside, the shop was dark, but Sans could see the outlines of luminescent crystals lining all the walls, as well as several glowing stones being displayed throughout the store.

"damn…"

"EEEEE! I know right, so COOOL!" She dashed to and fro, pointing out many different stones to Sans.

"This here is a Thunder Stone and…this here is a Leaf Stone and…wow! I haven't seen a real Mega Stone in my life!"

Sans peered in to look at the Mega Stone; it shimmered with multiple colors, but it seemed like something he had seen before…

"wait a second…"

A lightbulb went off in Sans head. Alakazam had one of these Mega Stones on his wrist!

"i've seen this before!"

Amber looked at him, both curiously and with excitement.

"Really!? When?!"

"alakazam had one of these on his wrist."

"Hm, that's odd…these things are very rare, and from what I've heard, they're just collector's items. They don't really do anything as far as I'm aware."

"why's that?"

"Dunno, maybe something's missing."

"hm."

They continued to examine the store's contents until Amber suddenly froze in front of another stone.

"Woooaaaah…Fire Stone! So waaarm!" She nuzzled the rock and turned to Sans.

"don't you dare say-."

"I WANT IT!"

Sans heard a thud and muttering somewhere in the back of the store, and turned to see a floating rock and crystalline Pokémon making it's way around the exhibits.

"hey, are you the owner of this place?"

The Pokémon nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Carbink. I've collected these rare stones from travelers across the world. Why do you ask?"

"um…she wants that."

Sans pointed at the glowing Fire Stone and a jumping Amber.

"The Fire Stone? That costs 2000 Poké."

"two-thousand? that's expensive!"

"And that stone is rare." Carbink gestured once again to the glowing stone.

"C'mon Sans, pleeeaaaaaase?"

Amber looked at him with baby-doll eyes, trying to guilt him into paying for the stone.

"amber, it's expensive."

"Pleaaaaaaasseeeeeeee?!"

His eyes darted between Carbink, Amber, and the glowing stone as he contemplated his options. Unfortunately, there was only one. He took out the pouch and counted out the golden coins, which added up to two-thousand perfectly. He dropped the pouch on top of Carbink.

"here ya go, two-thousand even."

"The stone is yours, kid."

Amber giddly grabbed the stone off of the pedestal and stuffed it into her bag.

"Thaaaanks Sans! You're the best!" She gave him a quick hug then sprinted back out of the store. He gave a soft chuckle before Carbink interrupted him, struggling to balance the pouch on it's head.

"Any…help?"

Sans grabbed the pouch and placed it on the counter, where Carbink tipped it over to put into a register.

"Is that your girlfriend?"

Sans stepped back in shock.

"no…what makes you think that?"

"Nothin', just curious."

Sans walked out of the store and found Amber waiting for him outside.

"Do you think Faith and Papyrus are done?"

Sans looked behind Amber and saw a glimpse of a couple of familiar faces.

"speak of the devil…"

Faith and Papyrus walked up to Sans and Amber.

"NYEH HEH HEH! WE'RE FINISHED!"

"i assumed so. did'ja get everything you needed?"

"Yup," said Faith, holding up a slightly fuller Treasure bag. "I talked to the local Unionmaster and said that they didn't get any reports from our branch, so we're clear to proceed with our assignment once Cameron's done with…whatever he's doing."

Sans froze for a moment, remembering that Noctowl had given him his own assignment while on this journey. It seemed it was coming close, and faster than he had expected.

"yeah, we should probably get back," Sans chuckled, "cam's probably done."

"I hope so," replied Faith. "Sometimes he can be a little…slow."

"ha, slow? if you think cameron's slow, then you've seen nothing yet."

"Heh, I'll take my chances."

The group reboarded Lapras and traveled back to the castle, the sun beginning to make it's descent as the afternoon slowly turned into evening. As they deboarded, Lapras nudged Sans in the back, causing him to turn around.

"huh?"

"I hope that…Cameron's not doing what I think he's doing."

"doing sudoku?"

"No…why that?"

"eh, just a funny joke."

Lapras rolled her eyes.

"Just…be careful, okay? It sounds like he really pulled the last straw with his dad."

"i'll keep you updated."

Sans hurried up the hill to catch up with the rest of the group, who had already re-entered the residence. Faith was already talking to Cameron's dad, her voice filled with worry.

"He isn't done yet, is he?"

"Nope, Cameron is still upstairs and hasn't come down since you last saw him."

"Ugh…we'll go check on him."

Cameron's dad paced in his place.

"…Very well."

"Thank you sir!"

The four ran upstairs, past their rooms, and towards an open door across from Cameron's room.

"Uh guys," muttered Amber, "I don't think that door was open before…" She turned to Faith.

"You don't think that's-."

"It is." She began to lead the group towards the open door, listening carefully for any signs. Faith suddenly brought her hand up, and the group stood still.

"please don't tell me it's an amalgamate…"

"Nah, it's not." She waved her hand and the group continued. "But it might be worse."

"aw, dammit."

On Faith's signal, the group jumped into the room at the same time, and saw Cameron sleeping in the middle of the floor. The room was a bedroom, one that hadn't seen any use in at least a couple years, the blue walls faded and the pictures and furniture covered in dust. The only unusual thing present in the room was a surprised Flareon sitting on the bed.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Down to the Bone!

If you ever have any ideas or constructive criticism for my story, please let me know.

I'll see you all in the next chapter!

-Blox