"Here we are!"

"Wait, Miyako, are you sure we should be going somewhere like this after all that's been going on lately?"

"Sure."

"…"

Team Red Bean Paste, Team Tales, Miyako, and Oktavia stood outside the grand (?) building of Spiral's Café, its roof decorated with its namesake. They had actually gone on with the original plan of visiting the café (although a few days had already passed since), and Kyosuke was extra excited about getting to drink the famed 'Spiral Smoothie', a drink the café was known for.

Sayaka, however, was a bit reluctant on the plan. She kept trying to say that Kyosuke and Sadie were still seriously injured, but both would always reply with a 'we're fine!', though it was quite obvious they weren't, judging by the many bandages they hadn't taken off yet. Added with the fact that they still flinched each time they saw Sayaka or Artie heading towards them with a bottle of alcohol didn't help with their excuse.

Miyako and Oktavia, however, were a bit more forceful in their offers this time (more on Oktavia; Miyako was just kind of hanging-around-at-the-back-and-agreeing-to-everyth ing-Oktavia-said) and Sayaka eventually agreed. Highly reluctantly, should we add. Artie was the same, but due to Sadie continuously begging him to let her go, he gave in faster than the bluenette, who had long developed a resistance against Kyosuke's pouty face.

As they entered, Sadie and Kyosuke instantly went for the drink section and left the remaining four to look for a table in the crowded café. A few Pokemon stared at the peculiar looking mermaid witch, but averted their eyes when she grinned at them sinisterly.

They managed to snatch a small one in the corner, near a couple cobwebs and covered in lots of dust. Considering that the café had barely been built for a week or two, the feat of having a table as dusty as the one they were sitting on (reluctantly) was big. It wasn't a feat to be very proud of, though.

When the waiter, a Wynaut easily identified by the big, thick, and fluffy black scarf acting as the 'tail', arrived, Sayaka still hadn't made up her mind. She was internally having a heated debate over whether she should get the healthy one or the delicious one ('Nutrients!' the healthy side yelled, while the delicious side screamed, 'TASTE BUDS APPRECIATION!'), and eventually decided on the aggressively arguing delicious one.

"I'll, uh… I'll have the chocomallow coffee," she muttered quietly, too quietly that the Wynaut had to lean in to hear her. Oktavia smirked, mentally congratulating her host for finally following Kyosuke's diabetic footsteps.

"S-She'll have the Sushi Blend," Sayaka continued, pointing at Oktavia. To be honest, she had no idea what a sushi blend was, nor did she want to find out.

"An espresso," Artie deadpanned. From his eyebags, it was obvious he was staying up late at night thinking up excuses and explanations for Oktavia's and Sadie's mischievous pranks.

"I'll have some of the best cheesecakes you have in here," Miyako said, smiling. "If possible, add some strawberry and cherry toppings too."

Bowing, the waiter skipped off towards the counter, leaving the three of them to stare at the still-smiling Miyako. "Something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head in question.

"Cheesecake? With cherries and strawberries?" Artie inquired curiously. "Is that for Mami?"

Miyako brightened up. "Oh, yes! She told me she's been having some trouble taking care of all the rowdy exploration teams lately, so I decided to cheer her up with some cheesecake. Charlotte really loves them too, so I suppose they'll be happy if I give them some."

"Thoughtful of you," Oktavia sing-songed. "Unlike my host, who refuses to thank me for everything I've done for her and Kyo-Kyo."

It was obvious why Oktavia was in a slightly better mood now; the Yuuki and Chiwa she had mentioned so many times had finally showed up, and they were exhausted. Yuuki, a Skitty, had fallen asleep in Oktavia's bed the second she fell on it, and Chiwa, a Meowth, hadn't even made it to the bed; she just fell flat on the floor, dozing off.

Once they did come around, which was a very long time later, Yuuki had explained why they had taken so long to getting to the guild; they were attacked. "And by Ai, no less!" the Skitty exclaimed, flailing her arms about to dramatize her story. "Came with at least an army of Shadows! I thought she was supposed to be killing them!"

Chiwa, the more experienced Dimension Traveler of the two (Sayaka still had some trouble wrapping her mind around the concept of dimension-traveling people/Pokemon) and more analytical, told her theory about Ai's sudden turn-around; Despair. "Dimension Travelers who have Despair in their Souls can easily have their minds manipulated." For some reason, her gaze had flickered to Sayaka for a nanosecond before she continued. "Perhaps something had happened to her, or someone close to her."

"Like Eri?" Yuuki had suggested. Miyako had flinched at that, though nobody but Oktavia seemed to know why.

"Probably," the mermaid witch had murmured. "Ai isn't easily affected by things directed towards her, but to anyone close to her… erk," she winced, "Despair'll be imminent."

While Sayaka had been very interested in the topic, Kyosuke had dragged her off to buy some sweets and taiyaki that she hadn't been able to listen to the following discussion. The bluenette couldn't blame the Torchic when she saw his face at obtaining some pocky sticks, though, so she forgot about it eventually.

It came rushing back at her now, and right when Kyosuke and Sadie had just returned with a Spiral Smoothie each, contented looks on their face as they sipped the drink. Sayaka was just about to ask for a quick taste of it, too… so unless she got another straw, she wouldn't be able to taste the drink everyone had been nuts about.

"Do it! You know you want to."

"Go die, witch."

The Wynaut had just arrived in the middle of a staring match, and he hastily deposited the drinks and hurried off towards the front again.

Before the glowering Sayaka could shoot any more insults towards the smirking Oktavia, two figures burst into the café in a hurry, shooting past all other tables and skidding to a stop in front of their table. One had pink hair with a pair of cat ears tying it up into two pigtails, and wore a fuzzy pink capelet at the neck. Under that, she wore a one-piece pale yellow dress, and fluffy winter boots.

The other was slightly taller, with straight black hair with cream streaks and a headband with a gold coin situated on the middle. She donned a peach hoodie with a hood that had two cat ears on it, and a short pleated cream skirt.

At first, the group had no idea who they were. Then, the two Skitty and Meowth tails waved tiredly from behind the duo, and they recognized them at once.

"Yuuki? Chiwa?" Sadie asked in confusion, still calmly drinking her smoothie. "What's the problem?"

"It's… hor… horrible!" Chiwa gasped. "Shadows… Amp Plains… everywhere!"

"And when she means everywhere, she means everywhere 'cause they're like everywhere and they're swarming all over the place and there were no more than three exploration teams and a school field trip in there!" Contrast to Chiwa, Yuuki was saying all her words in a single breath. "I saw the students were still elementary of all grades and there were so many Water-types in there and heck, even the teacher is a Water-type, they don't stand a chance, you gotta help us!"

The Skitty took in a long breath and slumped on their table tiredly. "Um… please?"

"Consider it done!" Sayaka said, standing up and placing a good deal of money on the table. "We can't let those kids and exploration teams get hurt!"

"This is her justice side talking, right?" Sadie whispered.

Artie nodded, sighing as he downed the entire espresso in one gulp. "I was hoping to save this…"

"Ehh?" Miyako yelped as she finished wrapping her daintily prepared cheesecake. "But I was just starting to eat my slice…"

"No way out now," Kyosuke grumbled as he finished his smoothie even faster than Artie. "Once she gets all justice-y and crap, she'll never shut up."

Sadie, however, stood up along with Sayaka and raised her fist. "Right! Gotta help Pokemon, got it!" she exclaimed excitedly, readying herself to zoom out the café, drink still in hand. The Totodile pulled her down, and Sadie downed the rest of her drink once she noticed her mistake.

Chiwa shot them a grateful smile, just as Oktavia shook her head with amused disapproval and her cape flickered in view. Seconds later, all that was left of the group was the table with lots of cups and glasses finished in a hurry.

"HOW MANY OF THESE ARE THERE?!" Kyosuke yelled in anger and impatience as he stabbed another Shadowed Electrike in the gut. It cried out in pain and slumped to the ground in unconsciousness, a shadowy tendril escaping from its body and dissipating. Before the Torchic could even take a breather, he spun around instinctively to fire a stream of flames at a Shadowed Pikachu that had tried to zap him.

"An infinite number, if we're lucky," Artie grumbled in response, a typhoon of fire encircling all Shadowed Pokemon in the near vicinity (and any that had touched a hair on Sadie's head). A Shadowed Magnetite dashed towards the Ninetales, but Artie simply snapped his fingers and the poor thing was ablaze with fire in an instant.

"Lucky? You call this lucky?!" Miyako squeaked as she barely managed to dodge a bolt of electricity that had zigzagged towards her. With great difficulty, she conjured up four Shadow Balls that levitated around her and bashed against any advancing Shadowed Pokemon. One managed to slip through her defense – a Shadowed Pichu – but at the exact same time, her chain timepiece glowed brightly and engulfed the Pichu in a strong psychic hold. Its mental strength weak, it crumpled to the ground.

Sadie scoffed. "This is just more than what we're used to, isn't it?" In contrast to her words, however, she was sweating and panting heavily, her stamina still not very high. She really, really wished she had long-range attacks right now; Shadowed Magnetite Pokemon had extra tough skin that caused her more pain than them. Feeling something moving towards her from behind at the speed of light, she spun around and shot a half dozen knives at whatever it was. The Shadowed Pikachu shrieked as the blades dug into its skin and it fell backwards, bleeding from six different places.

"Never mind the infinite number, where are the kids?" Sayaka asked, having to shout over all the noise. She shielded herself with her cutlass as a Shadowed Jolteon leapt at her, but as soon as she dug the blade into its leg, the cutlass bent uselessly and she scowled, throwing it away. It smacked into the back of a Shadowed Electrike's head, and it fainted right then and there on the ground behind her. Sayaka didn't notice her peculiar victory, however, as she was a bit more concerned on flinging the Jolteon away with her newly summoned cutlass.

"Somewhere deeper, I think!" Yuuki replied, notching an arrow into place as she shot it at a howling Shadowed Flaaffy. "The teacher probably lead them into a safer area than this." The Skitty felt something stun her shoulder and fry a corner of her capelet, and she turned around with a murderous look in her eyes, arrow and bow glowing a bright pink in her anger. "Did… Did you just burn my capelet?" The Shadowed Ampharos, undeterred, charged forward with a Thunderpunch ready, but a storm of arrows rained down upon it and it fell back almost immediately. Yuuki huffed victoriously.

"I'm really not even sure we're going the right way," Chiwa exclaimed worriedly, throwing several bombs and grenades in the areas crowded with Shadows (which was just about everywhere not occupied by one of the team). Explosions were ringing left and right, and the Meowth jumped backwards to prevent a Manectric from slashing violently at her spine. "I do hope they're still alright…" A bow and arrow appearing out of nowhere, Chiwa fired it at a Shadowed Pikachu who had been advancing on Yuuki from behind.

"Oh, yes, yes we are~" Oktavia sang as she levitated in the air with her navy blue cape flowing around her, playing her violin amidst the explosions and other kinds of disruptive noise. You'd think no one would hear anything, but her violin rang clear and fulfilling its duty, as several Shadowed Pokemon went mad and banged their hands to unconsciousness on the jutting rocks and boulders in the Amp Plains. A bolt of zigzagging lighting raced up towards her, but the mermaid need not do anything as it crashed against a barrier made up entirely of musical notes.

"Of course you'd know," Chiwa muttered under her breath, throwing another grenade at a clump of Shadowed Mareep and Flaaffy Pokemon. "You know everything."

"Like where we're supposed to be going right now!" Sayaka yelled, summoning a storm of cutlasses and raining them down on a particularly stubborn Manectric. However, after doing this, her concentration wavered a bit and a splitting headache attacked her brain. An Electrike seized its chance and latched on to her leg, sending six thousand volts throughout her body. With a scream of pain, the Totodile staggered backwards and kicked the Shadowed Pokemon off her leg; it smacked against a stone wall and fainted, but the deed had been done.

Kyosuke went livid, unsurprisingly. Using his spear, he cut a path straight through the crowd of Shadowed Pokemon and zoomed forward, the direction they were going. Noticing this advance, the rest of the group followed with varying difficulty.

Unfortunately for Sadie, a Shadowed Magneton blocked her way and refused to let her get through, zapping her each time she came in contact with it. Frustrated, the Eevee focused all her anger in one area; her hands. Before she knew it, she was raising both palms up and a manifestation of a black beast had sunken its shark-like teeth into the Magneton's entire body. It didn't even manage to shriek before it was knocked out.

Miyako had a little bit more trouble. Her Shadow Balls had dissipated, and in summoning them, her energy had been sucked straight out of her body. No matter how much she tried, her chain timepiece wouldn't activate its mysterious psychic powers anymore, and she was forced to use her sharp reflexes and nimble body to zip through the Shadowed Pokemon. She tired out easily, though, and bumped and tripped against an angry Ampharos, its fist sparking with electricity. With a timid squeak, Miyako just barely managed to roll away in time before she was made into fried Eevee, and she tackled the surprised Shadow with all the force she could muster in her exhausted body. Although it fell to the ground and Miyako managed to get away from the rest of the Shadows, she was ridiculously tired and would give anything to have a nice long rest.

All the others, especially Artie and Chiwa, escaped with ease. Artie simply had to burn a pathway of fire in front of him, and the Shadows didn't dare touch it in fear of having their host's skin scorched right off. The Ninetales didn't waste time swaggering in front of them, however, as he rushed forward and shot streams of fire against random Pokemon he could see were trying to stop the others' advances. Yuuki made it through by firing an unlimited number of arrows per second, driving away any and all Shadowed Pokemon that tried through her, and all Chiwa had to do was throw a couple bombs here and there to clear a single path for her.

Oktavia, noticing her teammates' actions, sighed in disappointment. "It's been such a long time I got to have some fun," she grumbled and reluctantly followed them as they dashed through the rough lands of Amp Plains in a hurry to find the students and exploration teams. However, the mermaid witch had seen all three teams evacuate the area as soon as possible when they heard of the sudden invasion, and all that remained was the school.

It didn't take long for the group to find the students, as they themselves were causing a large ruckus. Several were crying, while some were trying to 'fight the bad Pokemons!' with their weak flames or scratches. Yuuki's statement had been true; most of the teachers were indeed Water-types, and the rest that weren't were Flying-types. They were fighting off the Shadowed Pokemon, but they weren't doing very well – a Staravia had fallen unconscious, bleeding at the side, and an Azumarill had to take over to protect the students from the Shadows.

The rest wasted no time in helping out. While the other teachers that weren't battle-trained evacuated the students in a long underground tunnel that lead back to the entrance, the other teachers and the teams fended off the Shadows from the other students. However…

Kyosuke's ears picked up the sound of a shrill, female scream, and he looked around, but Sayaka, Sadie, Miyako, Yuuki, Chiwa, and Oktavia were perfectly fine and didn't seem to have heard the scream…

The scream sounded again, but it seemed like only he could hear it, and then Kyosuke turned his head to the left –

And then he saw it: a small black-haired Pokemon, clutched in the hands of a Shadowed Electabuzz, and the Pokemon was trying to struggle free from its grip. Eyes widening, Kyosuke dashed forward readily to help the Pokemon (it had a black-and-white gothita theme, but he couldn't identify it very good…), but a pink blur had already zoomed straight towards it with agility even he couldn't match.

The pink-haired Pokemon smashed his body straight against the Electabuzz, causing the Shadowed Pokemon to screech loudly and let go of the black-white Pokemon. Thinking quickly, the pinkette caught the Pokemon (seeing clearly now, Kyosuke could spot the skull headband on its head) and set her down gently.

However, the Electabuzz wasn't down yet, and while the pinkette had his back turned, it seized its chance and rushed forward, Thunderpunch at the ready. The pinkette turned around, but it was too late to dodge or block, and Kyosuke had his hands full with a Shadowed Raichu –

Thonk!

And… and… and Yuuki just shot an arrow right in the Electabuzz's eye. It shrieked, then crumpled to the ground with shadowy tendrils disappearing in the air above it.

"You okay?" she called out to the two students as they stared up at the Skitty with admiration. Their teacher came over and hurried them towards the tunnel before they could properly thank her, though, and Kyosuke returned to stabbing the Raichu in the shins.

Eventually, the Shadowed Pokemon thinned out, and the whole school had filed out to reach the entrance once more. The exploration teams followed their example, and soon found themselves back at the crossroads near the guild.

"How can we ever thank you for all your help?" The principal, an old Alakazam with his blonde hair turning gray, asked. "If you hadn't been there, my students would all have been killed!"

"He couldn't care less about us," the black-haired Pokemon muttered as the pinkette wrapped her arm in bandages, tutting disapprovingly.

"Now, now, Homura-chan, you know you shouldn't be like that," he scolded lightly, tying the bandage into a ribbon to finish it off. "If the principal heard you, he'll be really mad, you know?"

While Oktavia and Artie were negotiating with the principal, Kyosuke took a good look at the duo. The black-haired one, Homura, he supposed, was a Houndour; she had long black hair that split at the end, and an ebony headband with a skull at the side, greatly contrasting with the dark colors. She wore a simple black dress with white frills at the sides, and white elbow-length gloves. A pair of signature dog ears popped up from underneath her headband, and her black-white tail waved slowly behind her.

The pinkette, on the other hand, seemed a bit… unnatural, he thought. He had pink hair that was slightly long, which was unusual for a guy, and a pink woolly winter coat. Complete with wool gloves and boots, he looked almost… sheepish. The tail that poked out from his behind with an orb at the tip didn't help either. He didn't know what kind of Pokemon he was, or if he was a Pokemon at all. He was sure only those from some kind of sheep family would have that tail…

"You didn't have to help me, Makoto," Homura exclaimed, flipping her hair to the side in some kind of haughty-looking manner. "I was… handling it… handling it fine by myself."

For some reason, the Houndour looked almost pained to say that.

Makoto simply sighed with a small smile. "Well, okay, then…"

Before Kyosuke could eavesdrop on their conversation any longer, Sayaka dragged him towards the principal to share goodbyes and go separate ways. Yuuki and Chiwa lingered for a little bit, saying the Skitty had felt a potential aura, whatever that was…

… And then the duo skipped up towards them.

Perhaps not 'skipped', exactly, but they both looked very excited when they saw their idol. Yuuki whispered something to her Meowth companion, and Chiwa nodded with an almost unnoticeable smile. With that done, Yuuki proceeded to kneel down to face the children on eye level and hear Makoto's words of praise. Homura stood by the side awkwardly, before giving in to the pinkette's insistence and murmuring a reluctant 'thank you'.

Yuuki merely had to smile.

Back at the guild dorm, Sayaka had managed to retrieve Miyako's cheesecake where Oktavia had teleported it, and the Eevee dashed off to give her little present to the Mawile. Kyosuke, on the other hand, fell asleep the instant his head hit the pillow…

… And promptly had to wake up ten minutes later. The reason to this was because Makoto and Homura had snuck in their room to see what an exploration team was, and Sadie was utterly speechless at how good the duo was at sneaking around. In seconds, she was begging for Artie to allow her to teach them some more techniques in going by unnoticed and pranking other Pokemon, and while the children were enthusiastic about it, the Ninetales firmly disagreed, saying it would 'corrupt their little minds'.

Not that it mattered, because as soon as Artie went off to tell Cirra, Sadie set to work on laying out a battle plan and how to get the Ninetales's guard down so as to dump a water bucket on him. Oktavia's assistance was worrisome.

Deciding to cut to the chase when Kyosuke saw Yuuki, he neared her and whispered, "Exactly what kind of Pokemon is that pink guy?"

The Skitty tilted her head for a bit, before smiling. "Oh! He's a shiny Mareep. All Dimension Travelers appear as shiny Pokemon, as well as those with potential." As if to emphasize her point, Yuuki flicked her wrist and her clothes turned a slightly darker hue, showing her shininess. "Of course, there are also natural shiny Pokemon, so don't think every single shiny you see is automatically a Dimension Traveler~" she giggled.

"Huh." Kyosuke turned to look back at the pinkette and the black-haired Houndour. "Interesting. Are you gonna try to… I dunno, teach him the ways of your race, or whatever?"

"Maybe."

"… hm…"

Just when Kyosuke was about to go back to bed, Artie entered the room in a run, narrowly missing the bucket of water that clanged on the floor. Makoto and Sadie let out a disappointed 'aww!' while Homura rolled her eyes in a way that said 'I knew this would happen'.

The Ninetales smirked a bit, before turning to the matter at hand. "Cirra says, since we're officially an exploration team now, and there isn't an age limit for members, these two can join our team if their parents allow it. I, personally, think they'll be much safer at home." He crossed his arms and shot a warning look at Sadie.

"Oh, but they don't have parents," Artie piped up. Every pair of eyes in the room instantly turned to him with curiosity. "The school they go to is like an orphanage, too, since that's a school for Pokemon with no parents or guardians."

"Even so, would it be wise for them to join a team as dangerous as, er… us?" Sayaka asked. "I mean, we fight Shadows and get involved in lots of weird stuff, so…"

Chiwa suddenly stood up from the chair next to the table. "They will be fine," she said in a final decision kind of voice. "They are strong enough to handle themselves, and I will be teaching them in their teachers' place. Yuuki will help."

"E-Eh?" the Skitty looked surprised, but nodded anyway. "Er, u-um, sure!"

"Yes!" Sadie pumped her fist in the air. "I get students too!"

Artie poked her forehead forcefully. "No."

"Aww…"

Makoto, at the news of joining one of the teams, grinned widely and rushed to Yuuki's side. "I'm gonna come with Yuu's team!" he declared with excitement. Homura hesitated, before following Makoto and staying next to him.

Yuuki, a bit confused and amused at the same time, turned to the oddly silent Oktavia for advice. The mermaid witch, noticing her look, smirked and stood up. "Fine. Yuuki and Chiwa will form an exploration team, then."

"W-WHAT?!" Chiwa yelled.

The decision was final, though, and Oktavia accompanied the excited Yuuki and sputtering Chiwa to the guild supervisor.

4k special on the thirteenth chapter, baby! Woo.

Enter Yuuki, Chiwa, Homura, and Male!Madoka. Who, incidentally, is named Makoto, and I'm not sure if the hint is obvious enough...

Anyway! Something that amuses me is that Houndoom is known as the Dark Pokemon, while Ampharos is known as the Light Pokemon. So, it's kind of like Homura and Madoka/Makoto being complete opposites...

Leave a review, please~

Reisu, 8/18/13