Disclaimer: I think's it is pretty obvious by now that I don't own Pokémon right? After all, my chances of owning Pokémon are as likely as being able to catch and store 200 Pokémon in Gen I.

Chapter 14: Minds, Amp Plains, and the Electrike Tribe

"Where am I?"Charmander wondered. "How did I get here?"

"How I have waited to finally meet you…"Charmander immediately leapt into his fighting stance out of pure reflex. The voice did scare the living fire out of him. "I've waited for this opportunity for far too long."

"Who's there?!"Chamarnader asked sharply. "Show yourself!"

Whoever the fire type was talking to seemed to consider his request before ultimately deciding to obey as he felt an ominous wind swirl around him before closing into a cocoon. Charmander stared as a pair of blood red eyes stared back at him. Wait a second…

"Who are you really and what are you doing in my mind?"Charmander asked perhaps a little more hostile than he'd intended. Red Eyes seemed to take it into stride.

"I only serve one purpose and that is to protect you and your mind from foreign invasion,"Red Eyes responded.

"So those times where Chimecho and Uxie tried to see my memories," Charmander started, "that was you?"

"Correct," Red Eyes replied.

"So do you have a name?" Charmander asked, "Because I'd like to call you something other than Red Eyes."

Red Eyes seemed to regard him for a few moments before closing briefly behind unseen eyelids. The fire type waited patiently for a response when they reappeared from the matching dark background.

"You may call me whatever you so desire," Red Eyes replied. "My duty is to protect my liege which happens to be you."

Charmander crossed his arms as he tried to take this all in. So he had some entity that shared his mind with him and was essentially his protective mental guardian.

"We can figure out a name for you later," Charmander decided. "So I imagine that it was you who brought me to this place?"

"Correct," Red Eyes stated. "We have much to discuss and not as much time as I'd like to explain everything to you."

"Okay," Charmander nodded, taking a seat on the ground as Red Eyes stared down at him, "we'd better get started."

The conversation had turned out to be quite informative. Red Eyes had explained how it had come into contact with him and how it had been defending his mind subconsciously as situation called for. Charmander had agreed that the protection had been quite helpful even though it had caused his friends to suffer a little bit.

Charmander had asked about his lost memories. Red eyes replied that the memories weren't gone but were buried deep within his mind.

"Just because you can't recall your lost memories as easily as you'd like," Red Eyes lectured, "doesn't mean that you're gone. I believe your partner, Lily, mentioned this to you: once you remember a small piece then you can use that to remember another memory and then another and then another."

Charmander had nodded through the explanation. The question that remained was how was he going to unlock that first memory? From what Red Eyes had just told him, it sounded like these lost memories of his time as a human were buried deep in his mind. That told him that he'd need a really big event to remember something small yet alone his entire past.

"Regardless," Red Eyes stated, eying Charmander warmly. It had clearly taken a liking to its host. He certainly spent a lot of time reflecting. "Should you find yourself in trouble, I will do everything in my power to protect you."

"I appreciate it," Charmander bowed as a suitable name hit him, "would it be alright if I called you Scarlet?"

Red Eyes regarded him curiously as it mulled the name over.

"Yes," it decided. "Scarlet is fitting for me, I think."

Charmander nodded as he felt light take him over. The last thing he saw before it did was Scarlet eyes radiating an amused look as he vanished.

The fire type woke up abruptly that morning next to his drowsy partner. Charmander waited as Lily managed to wake herself up with a few stretches before heading to the briefing which had been dull as per usual.

The two had made to leave to pick out some jobs before all the good ones were taken but Chatot had stopped them before they could take their leave.

"Before you head out for your jobs today, I want you to go to Kecleon Market and ask if they plan on selling Perfect Apples there."

"Okay sure," Lily nodded. They needed to go there anyway to see if they had any new merchandise. It was clear that the Kecleon brothers were working harder than ever especially since Torterra's shop had just opened relatively recently had been doing quite well.

Besides, both of them knew full well why Chatot had been asking them to do this. Of course, everyone had been well aware of the guildmaster's addiction to the large succulent apples so it came as no surprise when they learned that he'd taken to filching one from the guild's food supply whenever no one was watching.

"Do you want us to check Torterra's shop as well to see if he plans on selling Perfect Apples as well?" Charmander offered. The flying type nodded as he watched Team Drive set off, first to pick out some jobs and then head to Treasure town to find out whether either shop had plans to sell Perfect Apples.

The two had opted to go Treasure town where they found the Kecleon brothers and Dusknoir indulging in some small talk.

"What's the great Dusknoir doing here?" Charmander wondered.

"It looks like he's having a chat with the Kecleon brothers," Lily replied, watching the interaction with intrigued eyes.

It was at this point that Dusknoir caught sight of the duo and flashed them a pleasant smile at them before moving closer to them.

"Ah you two are from the guild, I presume?" he asked pleasantly. It made him smile to see pokémon as young as them, pursuing their dreams of become great explorers. They almost reminded him of himself…

"Yes, we're Team Drive and we work at the guild," Lily smiled. "So what are you doing here Dusknoir sir? Shopping?" Her eyes drifted from the ghost type to the shopkeepers.

"No, no," said Dusknoir airily, "just enjoying a chat with Kecleon here."

"I hailed him down right from the start," the green Kecleon explained. "The Great Dusknoir is quite famous after all so we couldn't resist starting a conversation with him and what a chat it was!" Both brothers' eyes had gone wide with admiration while Dusknoir watched on equal parts amused and embarrassed.

His violet colored brother recovered first and continued, "The Great Dusknoir is very knowledgeable and worldly and wise. I was thoroughly impressed." He nodded to himself as though not expecting anything less of an explorer of Dusknoir's statue.

Lily looked back at Dusknoir with newfound respect.

"I guess the rumors are true," said Lily. "Dusknoir sir, you must truly be as knowledgeable as everyone says."

Both Kecleon spoke before Dusknoir could get a word in as they asked what items and wares Team Drive needed. Charmander explained that they wondering if the Kecleon brothers had any plans to stock up on Perfect Apples.

Both had replied in the negative, much to their disappointment but thanked them regardless.

"Incidentally," Dusknoir started, focusing on Charmander. "I heard about your kidnapping. I do hope you're alright after that experience."

The Kecleon brothers jumped in surprise and immediately drilled Charmander with questions about his well-being. Charmander had chuckled nervously as replied to their questions.

"If it wasn't for Lily here, I don't think I would have made it out of there," Charmander finished, throwing an arm around his grass type partner who flushed at the contact. "Lily's the best partner a pokémon could ever ask for."

"There's no doubt in anyone's minds that you two make quite the combination," Kecleon stated. "Seeing the two of you working together, I can't help but smile at the genuine enthusiasm you two have for exploring!" Dusknoir was intrigued.

Dusknoir looked like he wanted to say something when Lily realized that they had to get back to Chatot to tell him the news. However, before they could do that, everyone heard a familiar, to most anyway, voice.

"Azurill, hurry!"

"Is that…" Charmander wondered, glancing around for the source.

"It is…" Lily replied, a smile forming on her face as they all caught sight of two familiar water types.

"Marill! Azurill! Long time no see!" Charmander waved as an equally warm smile stretched onto his face. He didn't know what it was about the two water types but he couldn't help but think of them as his little brothers or something. It was a nice feeling to be sure.

The two water types came to a stop as they caught sight of the group.

"The Kecleon Brothers!" The exclaimed. "And Team Drive too! It's been way too long!"

"It sure has," Charmander agreed. "So how've you two been?"

"Yeah and why were you in such a rush?" Lily asked.

"Well you remember that precious item we were talking about a while back?" Marill asked.

"You mean that one that you were looking for before," Charmander asked. He'd remembered Marill mentioning a precious item although he didn't know what it was they were looking for.

"What kind of item is it incidentally?" Lily asked interestedly.

"It's called a water float," Azurill replied. Dusknoir's eye widened in surprise. That was an exceedingly rare item.

"I've never heard of it before," Kecleon remarked. "We've never come across one in our line of work." Dusknoir proceeded to explain that it was item that could only be obtained by swapping items over and over.

"Yes, that's why we've been spending so much time looking around and looking hard for the item," Marill explained.

"Then someone told us that they saw a water float sitting on the beach today," Azurill added eagerly. Everyone smiled at his enthusiasm.

"That's why we're in such a rush, we're going to go to the beach to find that water float," Marill said.

Zubat and Koffing were stirring over their defeat at Lily, Sunflora, and Corphish's hands. They had fumed when they discovered the ransom money had been fakes. The duo had been cooking up plans for revenge when they heard about conversation about the water float.

"Heh heh heh, that could come in handy for our plans, talk about a juicy tidbit," Zubat smirked. He could come up with several revenge schemes with just that little piece of information.

"Whoa ho ho, that could come in useful for our plans for revenge," Koffing chuckled. He was certain that their cravings for revenge would be satisfied.

"We'll bring the Chief up to speed and then get the jump on those losers," Zubat said to Koffing who nodded as they left.

"That's so awesome! It's great that your item finally turned up somewhere," Lily said cheerfully. Charmander nodded. It looked like there would be some good for those two brothers. The fire type knew that they deserved it given how ill their mother had been as of late.

"Do you want us to help you look for it?" Charmander offered. "I doubt it would take very long if we all looked together." Lily nodded in agreement. She doubted that it would take very long to find the water float if all four of them worked together to search the beach.

"Yeah!" Azurill exclaimed.

"If it's not too much trouble," Marill added shyly.

"No worries," Charmander grinned. "Why don't you two go on ahead? Lily and I will catch up to you once we finish our business here."

"Alright," Marill nodded. He gestured for Azurill to follow him and with that the two water types took their leave.

"I'm glad that they finally have a lead on their item," Lily smiled at the retreating figures. "I was wondering how their search was going. Now it seems like they're on the verge of finding it."

Kecleon had voiced that he'd never heard of a water float and had enquired as to its purpose. Dusknoir had filled them in on how it was an Azurill-specific item. Given that it could only be acquired by constantly exchanging precious items, the water float was exceedingly rare.

Kecleon had lamented his limited knowledge of such things while also lamenting the fact that he would never get the opportunity to sell such an exceedingly rare item.

That had reminded Lily that they needed to tell Chatot about Kecleon's market not selling Perfect Apples. Torterra's shop had no plans on stocking up just yet either. No one was surprised.

Charmander had suggested that they divide and conquer: the grass type ought to help Marill and Azurill find their water float while he broke the news to Chatot. Lily had been reluctant to agree but the confident smile caused her to agree before she fully understood what she had agreed to. She had bid Charmander farewell as she headed to the beach.

Chatot had been disappointed to say the least before lamenting that he would have to get the Perfect Apples himself. Charmander had volunteered himself to go collecting them whenever he and Lily had jobs to do in Apple Woods but Chatot rebuked him.

"The last time I sent you two there, you came back more battered and bruised than I've ever seen of any apprentice at this guild!" Chatot exclaimed. He turned apologetic to the fire type. "I'm sorry, you and Lily were outstanding on the guild's recent expedition and I recognize everything you done up to this point but that was slightly traumatic for me."

With that, Chatot flew away.

Charmander shrugged and headed down to the beach. He'd hoped that they'd had some luck finding the water float.

"We couldn't find it on the beach," Lily told him when he came down to help them out.

"What about Beach Cave?" Charmander asked. Lily explained that she didn't feel comfortable exploring while protecting the two young brothers. She didn't want to risk them wandering off while she was otherwise engaged.

The four had decided to explore the cave on the off chance that it may have been in the dungeon.

It wasn't.

"Hey you two, there's no reason to look so disappointed. I promise we'll keep looking for it together," Charmander vowed. Lily nodded profusely.

"Thank you Team Drive," Marill bowed as he and Azurill left the beach, leaving Team Drive looking more than a little disappointed.

"We should probably get some work done as well," Lily suggested. "No sense wasting the day when we could be exploring."

"Good idea," Charmander nodded as they went through with their jobs in steam cave after which they met with Uxie where Charmander told him and Lily about Scarlet.

"Who is Scarlet?" Lily asked, confused. Uxie looked equally lost as Charmander finished recounting the story of his dream.

"Scarlet's the red eyes that prevented Uxie and Chimecho from being able to see my memories, remember?" Charmander asked. Lily's eyes widened at the realization.

"So what did Scarlet have to say?" Uxie asked. He, of course, still remembered his previous conversation with the red eyes that had resided in Charmander's mind.

"Scarlet told me pretty much what you told me when you had your encounter, Uxie," Charmander explained. "Scarlet also hinted at a way for me to get at least pieces of my memories back. It was something Lily said way back when we were first starting out as apprentices: try remembering a little bit at time or something to that effect. Scarlet mentioned something about remembering one thing leading to another."

"It sounds like you have some sort of bond with Scarlet," Uxie remarked.

"Scarlet told me that it only existed to protect me and my mind from invasion," Charmander explained. "That's probably why you were forced out so violently. It was probably very suspicious."

"So did Scarlet have anything to say about your dizzy spells or your powers?" Lily asked. Charmander shook his head. Their conversation had centered mostly on how their minds had merged by accident which may have played some small role in how Charmander had ended up at the beach in the first place.

They made to continue the conversation when Uxie suddenly flinched.

"Another time gear has been stolen," he gasped. Charmander and Lily gasped as well. Who would be stealing them in the first place?

"No one from your guild as breathed a word about the Time Gear here correct?" Uxie asked sharply. Team Drive quickly shook their heads. They knew for a fact that no one had breathed a word about the expedition's true results.

The three sat silently, wondering how another Time Gear had been stolen and where they might strike next.

That had been answered for them when they heard footsteps outside. Uxie immediately conjured his Groudon to chase the footsteps' owner away. However, it was not meant to be as a few minutes later, the sound of Groudon collapsing in a heap. The three looked at each other uneasily while Uxie was a slightly relieved that Team Drive was here; at least he wouldn't have to face them alone.

"Who are you?" Charmander asked sharply, assuming a fighting stance. Lily and Uxie had done something similar and stood on either side of him. They weren't giving up the Time Gear without a fight.

"I have no quarrel with any of you," he said coolly. "I've come for the Time Gear." That had triggered something in the fire type. A sense of…familiarity? Where had he heard that before? Charmander shook his head, it wasn't important. He and Lily had to help Uxie protect the Time Gear.

"We're not going to just sit by and let you take it!" Lily retorted. The newcomer looked disappointed as he darted at them. Charmander only barely managed to get a flamethrower out and had managed to land a direct hit, catching him off guard.

The newcomer had landed on a higher ground and proceeded to fire bullet seeds at them which Uxie managed to deflect back at him. Lily had added to the reflected bullet seeds with her own magical leaf to knock him down. She then proceeded to grab him with a vine whip and released him like a top while Charmander sent a flame burst straight at him.

The newcomer managed to deflect the flame burst thanks to the spinning that he had long since brought under his control before slowing coming to a stop. He glanced at them while merely frowning at the battle.

He'd vanished underground, catching Charmander off guard. The fire type couldn't react fast enough to the newcomer springing up and launching him into the air before sapping away a little bit of his strength with what looked like an absorb attack.

Lily had managed to catch him and Uxie managed to slow his descent before they all nodded before facing their adversary. The three had immediately lunged in from all sides and slashed away before moving back and attacking with fire, grass, or psychic type power respectively. The three then stood in a rough circle before combining their attacks into one and landing another direct hit.

The newcomer had used the resulting smoke as a cover as he dove underground.

The trio grimaced as Uxie scanned the area for their foe but had been unable to find him before he sprung from the ground to said Charmander flying into the rock-face. Lily gasped before glaring at their foe.

"I have no desire to fight you," he stated as a portion of his arm began to elongate and shine with a green light. "I only want the Time Gear."

With that, he quickly took out Uxie and jumped into the lake while Team Drive was caught off guard. The two rushed to Uxie's side and panicked as they saw the light from the lake disappear before the newcomer had returned.

"I shall take my leave," was all he said as he disappeared. Lily and Charmander exchanged worried looks as they held an unconscious and injured Uxie close to their bodies.

"Another Time Gear was stolen?!" Chatot squawked, surprised. "Are you absolutely certain?! How did you find this out?"

Team Drive had returned and reported what had happened back at the guild. It was also necessary for Uxie to get treatment given how bad they had been. Both had been ashamed at not being able to stop the thief from running off with the Time Gear.

"We just finished doing our mission in steam cave where we found Uxie. Seeing as we haven't seen him since the expedition, we wanted to catch up a little with him," Charmander explained. "Uxie had asked us if we had mentioned anything about Fogbound Lake's Time Gear when we heard the thief's footsteps and we engaged him battle."

Lily recounted the rest of the battle as Chatot's expression turned more severe.

"And what about you two? Are you both all right?" He eyed their bodies, scrutinizing them for any injuries.

"We made it out okay because he didn't see the need to take us out as well since we were stunned that he managed to take out Uxie," Charmander replied.

"So were you able to find out the thief's identity at least?"

Charmander gave Chatot the details of the enemy they'd faced. He'd described what their foe looked like and left Chatot to try to discern his identity.

Dinner had been a subdued affair that night as Chatot announced that the thief had taken Fogbound Lake's Time Gear. Chatot had explained what had happened before deciding to include Team Drive's involvement.

The duo had been drilled with questions about the battle. Neither had known that the battle was going to happen as they had just been catching up with Uxie on current events when the attack happened. Neither knew why the newcomer had attacked aside from going after the Time Gear or he knew it was there.

"Look," Charmander stated, "we're just as confused about it as you are! Plus we're exhausted so just leave us be! We already answered your questions!" The other apprentices backed off the irate fire type as he led his exhausted partner to their room.

"I can't believe we let that thief get away!" Lily burst out angrily.

"I still can't believe how he managed to take out Uxie so easily," said Charmander. "I thought we managed to beat him after that team attack we did."

Lily had thought so too but it seemed that there was more to their adversary than what met the eye. He must have been very well prepared given what moves he seemed to know. That last move that he used to take out Uxie had terrified them.

Charmander had decided to change the topic. He didn't like stewing over failures for long. Even if said failures cost a region their Time Gear. His mind drifted to the water float.

"Think Marill and Azurill will show us their water float next time we see them?" Charmander asked sleepily.

"I hope so," Lily yawned. Charmander stifled a smile at how adorable she looked as he suggested that they turn in for the night.

"Well kidnapping him didn't work," Skuntank scowled. "Not only did we NOT get suitable revenge on the grass type but she managed to trick us with a fake ransom!"

Said fake ransom was lying in a bag with several pieces spilling from the bag.

"Hey Chief," said Zubat and Koffing in unison, "We've got another idea to get those twerps back."

"Well let's hear it then," Skuntank told them briskly. The two smaller poison types whispered their collaborative plan into Skuntank's ear. The leader of Team Skull grinned as the plan came together in his head.

"I love this idea," Skuntank smirked.

Lily and Charmander had just gotten through the briefing and had made to go check on Uxie before heading out for their missions of the day. Or at least that would have been the case had Loudred and Diglett not called them over.

"You two have visitors," Loudred told them. "Go up to the gate and greet them." Team Drive nodded as they quickly headed out.

When they made it outside, they were surprised to find Marill and Azurill waiting patiently for them.

"Hey you two, what's up?" Charmander asked.

"When we were searching for our water float yesterday, we found this message and were hoping that you could help us," Marill explained, handing over the note to a curious Lily who read it out loud.

"Okay here's what it says," said Lily as she began to read.

Chaw haw haw the item you seek is now in our possession. If you want it back then try to get us. We'll be at the deepest part of Amp Plains. But knowing how pathetically weak you are, I bet you can't even reach us! That's right, go cry to your big shot friends like they would have any more chance of getting it than you would.

"This is a ransom note," Charmander said, realization dawning on his face. And I have a pretty good idea who's responsible for this. His eyes narrowed suspiciously

"You two, I hope you guys aren't falling for this trap," said Lily worriedly. She didn't like the idea of the two adorable water types looking for danger especially since they, as far as she knew, had no training as explorers.

"I didn't want Azurill to get any scary scratches so I made sure he stayed home while I went to Amp Plains but I didn't get very far before I got knocked out, those electric types always, ALWAYS knocked me out before I got a chance to counter," Marill said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Charmander and Lily exchanged a look between them before nodding slightly. The fire type made his way over and said, "Marill, we'll get your water float back. You just take care of Azurill until we get back, okay?"

"But what about a reward?" Marill asked. "Won't you get in trouble if you come back without doing any sort of work?"

"We can just say that our mission was to explore a new area at the request of our client," Lily said without missing a beat. "And I'm sure that we'll find all sort of new things that would suffice as a reward and besides, exploring is a reward in and of itself."

"Chin up you two," Charmander grinned. "We'll have your water float back before you know it."

"T-thanks you guys," said Marill as he and Azurill threw themselves at Team Drive who awkwardly hugged the adorable water types.

"I don't want to see anymore tears from you two," said Lily, rubbing their heads with her vines. "Just leave everything to us."

With that, Team Drive descended the steps of the guild with purpose as Azurill and Marill watched on in admiration.

"I want to be just like them when I grow up big bro!" Azurill exclaimed.

"So do I, Azurill," Marill replied, watching their retreating figure, "so do I."

"So this is Amp plains then?" Charmander surveyed their terrain. It was pretty obvious given the massive expanse and occasional flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder.

"Yup," Lily replied. "We should get moving. I don't want those crooks getting away with stealing from such young pokémon."

"Right," Charmander saluted as he and Lily set out.

Thanks to their team work, they had managed to make their way through the dungeon without too much difficulty. They'd even managed to recruit a couple of electric types of their own to help buffer against damage.

Between the four of them, Team Drive had no trouble getting to the Kangaskhan Rock situated about halfway into the exploration.

"We don't know what might be waiting for us as we keep moving but we should probably move carefully," Lily advised. Everyone else nodded as Charmander opened the few chests that they'd found in the area.

Admittedly, they were nothing special; just a few gummis but still useful for saving oneself from hunger.

Meanwhile, back at Treasure Town.

"Ah I see," Kecleon remarked. "What a mean thing to do to such young pokémon like yourselves."

"So I take it Team Drive is on the way there right now?" the purple Kecleon inquired.

"Yep!" Azurill replied enthusiastically. Marill explained that Charmander and Lily would get it back for them.

"Good for you!" Kecleon grinned. "At least you can rest easy knowing that Team Drive is on the case!"

Marill agreed as he recalled how they had rescued Azurill from Hypno a while back and gone on to express how grateful he was for their help.

"Good day to you all! Is something the matter?" Dusknoir asked, approaching the quartet.

"Hello Dusknoir sir!" Kecleon answered. "We were just talking about Marill's missing item. Do you remember? We discussed the very same item here not long ago."

"Ah yes, the water float wasn't it?" Dusknoir replied. "My understanding was that it was supposedly on the beach."

"Exactly! Exactly! But there's more to the story now!" Kecleon quickly recounted how the water float was no longer on the beach and instead was a ransom note. Dusknoir had been more than a little indignant on the younger brothers' behalf. He condemned theft, especially theft from younger pokémon. In his eyes, those were the worst spawn on earth.

Both Kecleon brothers were of a similar sentiment as they raged about it at length.

"Incidentally, where has Team Drive gone?" Dusnkoir asked.

"They went to Amp plains," Marill replied, pulling out the ransom note to show the ghost type.

Needless to say, Dusknoir was shocked. "Amp plains…at this time of year…It's the season for…" He murmured as his expression turned worried for the young explorers. He proclaimed that Team Drive was in serious danger and that he would go after them himself.

"W-Wait!" was all Kecleon could get out as Dusknoir took his leave. The ghost type either ignored him or just couldn't hear him as he took off for Amp Plains.

"We've certainly traveled quite a way you guys," Charmander remarked, dispatching another pair of Elekid with a flame burst as they reached the furthest point of the plains.

"It's certainly a little intimidating isn't it," Lily couldn't help but utter.

"You get used to these kinds of things," Flaffy, one of their newest recruits, replied. "For me anyway, it's like a warm bath since it recharges my electrical reserves."

"It's a good thing we have you on the team then," said Charmander. Regardless, Lily was of the opinion that they search for the water float and the crooks and get out of there as soon as possible. After all, she was of the opinion that Amp Plains was terrifying in that lightning could strike them at any time.

"I wouldn't be too worried about the lightning Lily," Electrike, their other recruit, mentioned. "I have Lightning Rod as my ability so we won't get hit by an electric type moves while I'm around. Plus, anyone that tries will only just make my attacks stronger."

Lily nodded. That was reassuring.

"Hey, what's that?" Flaffy asked, pointing an object lying on the other end of the clearing.

"I think that's the water float that we're looking for!" said Charmander as he and his friends made a mad dash for it.

However, before they could even get close, they saw the land around them go pitch black with Charmander' flame the only source of light. Flaffy and Electrike both used a small jolt of electricity to help the quartet find each other as they quickly stood back to back.

The light soon returned and the four gasped as they found themselves surrounded by Electrike and Manetric. The Electrike who was working with Team Drive had quickly explained that he was no associated with the Electrike and Manetric surrounding them.

"Why did you come here?" Manetric asked sharply. Before any of them could give an answer, he went on a tirade about how they shouldn't have come and remarked about how rudely they'd conducted themselves.

"We didn't mean to interrupt—," Lily began but Manetric was past listening as he and the other Electrike fired charge beams at them.

Fortunately, Electrike's lightning rod drew them all in and served to strengthen his own electric type moves.

"We've gotta fight!" Charmander told his teammates who nodded reluctantly. They'd hoped that it wouldn't have to come to fighting but alas, it was not meant to be.

The electric attacks were of little consequence as Electrike had managed to gather them all into himself before jumping and spinning to make an electric field to pull all of the electric types in before expelling them towards Charmander who shot a flame burst at each of them to knock them out definitively.

While Charmander and Electrike 'bro-fisted', the two girls also came up with a clever combination of their own. Lily would grab Manetric who tried to electrocute her with his electricity while Flaffy retaliated with an electric attack of her. It was thanks to Flaffy's electricity and Lily's willpower that they were able to overwhelm Manetric and send him flying like a top into a nearby rock.

As the group of seemingly infinite energy Electrike came back for more, the four of exchanged a nod before they all lunged in for a team attack starting with several physical attacks followed by several elemental attacks. From there, the quartet merged all of their power into a single point, drawing the unwilling foes in and damaging them at the same time.

"We did it!" Flaffy cheered as they surveyed their downed foes.

"I'm…not…finished…yet…" Manetric struggled to his feet before firing a charge beam at them.

"TAKE THIS!" he yelled firing the attack. The duo shielded their eyes and in a flash of light Dusknoir appeared and the attack bounced off because of his light screen.

"STOP," Dusknoir said loudly. "They speak the truth, though they trespass, they have no intentions to conquer your land," he added.

"Who're you?" Manectric asked calming down slightly.

"I am the world-famous Dusknoir," he began authoritatively. "Your rage is completely reasonable, especially considering that this is the mutually beneficial ecosystem where you annually return for a safe haven. I understand completely! On behalf of these unwilling trespassers, I sincerely apologize! They mean no malice! We will leave you in peace as soon as our business is complete!" Dusknoir said to the tribe.

"You know quite a bit about us Dusknoir," Manectric remarked warily. "Very well we'll allow you some time, but we want you gone by the time we get back." He sent several jolts of lightning to revive his followers and gestured for them to follow him. They were gone with a flash of lightning.

Team Drive had managed to recover the water float without any more problems.

"I'm surprised that it ended up here of all places," Charmander remarked. "It's like it was put here deliberately…" He had a feeling as to who was responsible.

Dusknoir was of a similar sentiment as he glared in a seemingly random direction and called for the crooks to reveal themselves. Everyone stared at the members of Team Skull who stepped away from the rock.

They'd explained that they were hoping that the tribe would rough Team Drive for them to finish off but they hadn't counted on Flaffy and Electrike joining the team. Dusknoir had then challenged them to a duel only for the poison type to refuse and quickly make their getaway.

"What else do you know about the Manectric Tribe?" Charmander asked looking at Dusknoir curiously.

"Well, I can tell you that they're perpetual nomads. Incessant thunderstorms annually lash Amp Plains at this temporal period, and such discharges are mutually beneficial for them. But they were once ambushed here without warning…and endured an irreplaceable setback in their population…so it became an irrevocable mandate that they would preemptively strike at any unwilling trespassers," Dusknoir finished.

"At any rate, we should probably get going now. We don't want the Manetric tribe any angrier at us than they already are," Dusknoir stated, raising his badge to the sky and warping the five of them out.

Team Drive returned the water float to Marill and Azurill who had thrown themselves at the five of them in turn. They were delighted at finally having their precious item back that they had celebrated well into the day. Team Drive had quickly excused themselves to return to the guild where they managed to avoid a lecture from Chatot as they tucked into dinner and went to sleep.

I expanded the brief scenes into full conversations while giving Charmander a mental defender of sorts. Kind of like a more proactive version of Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team's Gardevoir. But seriously, who really is Scarlet? Find out more next time!