Chapter 12 - Twisted Minds

Anam heard the deep boom of metal bells.

The Abandoned Temple—the original name lost to the ages—stood four stories high, despite only having a single story inside. The building was made out of marble with intricate designs along the walls in the shape of spirals, flowers, and all sorts of Pokémon. There was a broken, circular window of colored glass on the top of the temple, as well as a few other, rounded, rectangular windows along the walls. What the windows depicted, unfortunately, was difficult to decipher, as most of the glass was gone.

While the temple may have once been a pristine, white marble, it was now reddened with the dusty winds of dirt and time.

"What a loud bell," Anam said.

The boom reverberated through Anam's mind: a deep metallic echo that shook the ground beneath his feet and the goo in his chest. It rang slowly, once, twice, three times…

Zena and James exchanged glances. The Milotic eyed Anam with concern. "What?" she said.

"Don't you hear it?" Anam asked.

He listened to it chime three more times. His feelers twitched at the vibrations, and Anam pointed his head skyward, toward the topmost tower at the center of the temple. There was no bell there, but Anam could see it.

The temple was silent.

"No, Anam. This place is completely devoid of noise," Zena said. "I think we're the loudest thing on the property."

Yet, the Goodra stared at the building for a while longer.

It rang three more times. Anam felt something well up from deep in his chest. A strange swelling of warmth. He breathed deeply, closing his eyes with a tranquil smile. And then, he breathed out.

The bell stopped after the ninth ring. Anam put a hand to his chest.

Confused, Zena slithered a few paces forward. "We should not waste much time. Shall we enter? The Normal Guardian is inside."

"Yes. Come, Anam."

Anam followed silently, but he walked at a slow, agonizing pace. His slimy hand brushed against the dusty walls of the entrance. There was no door, but it looked like there used to be.

The interior was like night and day, and Anam's eyes shined so brightly that Zena almost had to avert her own. The marble walls on the interior were cleaned to a blinding shine; the open room was completely clear of debris. At the far end was some kind of altar. It looked like a Pokémon would stand there to address a crowd. Faded murals—so faded that the actual contents were unrecognizable—lined the high walls and broken windows.

"I've never seen a building like this before," Zena said. "This is nothing like Kilo Village. Or even Hot Spot."

"Hrm," James hummed. "It is of a time long passed, Zena. A relic."

Anam advanced, and Zena and James followed until they all reached the middle of the room. Anam had a smile on his face, walking straight toward the altar at the back of the room with an eager spring in his step.

Click.

Anam's foot sank into the tile, and he stopped his advance. "…Was that bad?" he asked.

"Very," Decidueye James replied, puffing out his feathers. "Anam, whatever you do, do not l—"

Anam lifted his foot.

The fiery explosion that followed sent Anam, Zena, and James flying in completely opposite directions. The ground shifted instantly; the floors collapsed in patches and rose in others. Spikes skewered tiles from below, and strange, metal stalactites fell from above. A giant spike shot out from one wall and went straight for—

"Pfwoooh—!" It pinned Anam against the wall; the huge, stone thorn went right through his gooey chest, narrowly missing his heart—if he had one. He brought his slimy hands over it and tried to push it away, but it was jammed in too tight. His paw disintegrated into goo from the strain. "J-James!" Anam called in a gurgle, waving his handless, melting arm. "Help! I'm stuck!"

"Can't quite help at the moment!" James replied, narrowly dodging a concentrated beam of light that carved the stone ground that it struck. Anam finally pushed the stone spire free and dropped to the ground with a loud splat, his lower half becoming a purple mush on the ground. He needed a few seconds to recreate himself—it seemed that as a Mystic, the goo half of his kind was very pronounced.

"Is this the Guardian's doing?!" Zena called to James, emerging from the ground. She was hiding in cracks of the temple's ruined foundation as water, hoping to avoid the Normal Guardian's strikes. Another Hyper Beam spooked the Milotic enough for her to hide within the cracks again.

"I'm quite certain!" James replied. He vanished in a fine, black mist, dodging a second Hyper Beam. Something about these blasts felt dangerous even for his Ghostly nature. "He must feel threatened by this. Perhaps Rim already tried to defeat him. Clearly, she failed!"

Zena emerged halfway to speak. "We haven't even seen him yet!" she said. "Where could he be coming from?" Another blast of concentrated light carved a line out of the ground, leaving molten marble in its place. "These beams are coming from every direction! Surely he can't Teleport and use Hyper Beam at the same time!"

"I doubt that is the case," James said, "but it is possible. But I've seen this strategy before… These might be a variant to Owen's approach when he battles. Traps. Hyper Beam-traps, perhaps stored in empty Wonder Orbs, or—" James jumped to the right. A passing spike tore off a feather from his face. "Urf—the actual Guardian might be deeper insi—" Another line of hard light vaporized James where he stood, and he became nothing but an ember that returned to Anam's body. Even a Ghost Type was not immune to these attacks.

"Oops," Anam said, cupping James' spirit in his good hand. He dipped him into his chest, where the ember vanished completely. "Um, Z-Zena! Let's try to keep going!"

Thankfully, it seemed that the traps had exhausted themselves. Aside from the ambient sounds of rubble collapsing in small pieces against the walls, there were no further attacks.

Anam used his hands to piece his lower half back together. So far, he had most of his belly and tail reconstructed, but he couldn't find any spare material for his legs. He puffed his cheeks and pushed—new little feet popped out from the base of his thighs, followed by the rest of his missing appendages. He sprung to his feet, and Zena marveled at the Guardian's regenerative abilities. If any of that happened to her, she'd be nothing but a dead puddle.

"Of course," Zena finally said. She returned to the cracks and advanced further into the temple. They passed the altar and entered a back room. The further they went, the more it appeared to be… less abandoned. The entrance was a crumbling stone palace—mostly due to the traps that had gone off—but further inside, the walls were back to their pristine polish, constantly maintained, like it was an eternal routine.

Anam panted, tiny arms on the ground. "Th-this is way too much running… Why is this Temple so big on the inside? It's not a Dungeon, is it?"

"You're Mystic. Can you not just restore your own stamina?" Zena asked.

"Anam is… typically focused on other aspects of his Mysticism," James said, summoned again by Anam. "He largely focuses on self-preservation and high defenses rather than… offensive prowess."

Zena stared at Anam with a flash of a memory in her eyes. "That reminds me of an old friend," she remarked. "Anam, do you happen to know an Emily?"

"Huh?" Anam said. "What did you say? Emily? That sounds…"

The flash was gone. Zena tilted her head. "Did I say what?" she asked.

"Let's not get distracted," James said. He pointed a wing forward. There was a single Pokémon there, floating at the back of the smaller room. Twitching. Watching. "Are you the Guardian?" James called.

It was a strange Pokémon with a smooth surface—one that Zena had never seen before. Anam and James, however, knew of its kind.

The Porygon-Z buzzed with anxiety. "You do not have permission to create a guest account!" he said. His voice was like a buzz in the air, as if he was speaking through the crackle of a Thundershock at all times. "403 - Forbidden! Access to the back rooms is not allowed! Those traps should have deleted you!"

"Deleted?" James said. "Strange terminology, Porygon-Z, but we mean you no harm. We have no intention of deleting you, either. Yes?"

"Authentication required."

James sighed, glancing at Anam. "The Badge, if you may."

"Oh!" The Goodra dug through the bag partially submerged in the right side of his chest and pulled out the circular emblem. "This! Yep! That's my Thousand Heart Association Badge! I'm the leader, and our entire purpose is to make this place safe and peaceful for everyone! Including you!"

Porygon-Z buzzed with uncertainty. "Your data has not been verified and may be corrupt. Checksum required!"

James blinked. "…I do not know what that is," he said, "but I imagine this has something to do with your species' strange origins. I can assure you that we are not lying. Anam is a fellow Guardian, as is Zena. Meanwhile, I am a spirit, here solely because of the power of a very kind Mystic." He pointed a wing at Anam, who blushed and giggled.

"Hmmm…" Porygon-Z stared at the two, and then looked at Zena. "Are you a Guardian?"

"Yes, of Water," Zena replied. "I am Zena. This is James and Anam. What is your name?"

"I was once designated as an Absolutely Deadly Autonomous Machine. Therefore, my name is ADAM," Porygon-Z said.

"ADAM, huh?" Anam said. "That's close to my name! Except you spell yours out. And it's a D instead of an N. Can we just call you Adam?"

"That is my primary PC title," ADAM said. "…Such a title is reserved only for users with administrative permissions."

"Oh, okay," Anam said. "Well, you can use my name whenever you want! I'm Goodra Anam."

"It seems that the Porygon-Z still has a sense of culture," James said. "How long have you been here?"

"The word 'here' must be further defined."

"In this temple. How long has this been your home?"

"I have lived within this temple for approximately 1.5e10 seconds, base ten," stated ADAM.

Anam counted on his gooey fingers.

"I see," James said. "I imagine this is a very long time? How long does that compare to the lifetime of the average Pokémon?"

"Compared to my time in this temple, the average life of a Pokémon, is not negligible, but is significantly smaller."

"So, a really long time," Anam said, nodding. "Um, mister ADAM, does that mean maybe your… brain… head… has been damaged and corrupted?"

"My hardware is incapable of degrading due to Mysticism," ADAM replied. "…But perhaps my software requires repairing, and my file system, defragmenting. The data may be corrupted. However, I cannot reinstall my own operating system. Those files may have also been corrupted."

Anam nodded, noticing that ADAM was starting to become easier to understand. Perhaps when he wasn't so frantic, his instincts didn't in the way of his behavior.

"Well, would it help if you came with us to… rest… your software?" Anam asked. He leaned toward James, "What's software? That sounds like a Nev-Nev thing."

James shrugged. "ADAM, we only request that you come with us," he said. "Such a temple is not suitable to a Pokémon such as yourself."

"Oh, yeah!" Anam said. "And if more Hunters come by, we can keep you safe!"

"Hunters are not a security threat," ADAM said. "More persistent are Pokémon that do not appear in my database, but instead appear to be corrupted files."

"Mutants," James said. "If I am not mistaken, you are describing mutants. I imagine such a landmark would pique what semblance of curiosity they have." He nodded. "We can protect you against those, too, ADAM."

The Porygon-Z analyzed James carefully, then Zena, then Anam. He then scanned—for the umpteenth time—his polished temple. While Anam could not see an expression on the Pokémon's face, he did feel his distinct lack of interest in the temple at large. "Very well," ADAM said.

"Nice!" Anam pumped his fist in the air. A wad of slime flung from his hand and toward ADAM, who drifted to the side to avoid it. The Goodra pulled out their silver Badge, the communicator. "Hey, everyone! We have the first Guardian! He's okay! He'll come with us, and he's super cool! …Guys? Hello?"

"They may be occupied," James said. "Let's return home."

The World's Wound.

That was the other title of the Great Crevice, among many. Nature's Scar. The War's End. All sorts of titles and nicknames for the great fissure that carved out a large portion of the land's eastern side. On the map—the only place one could truly see its full size without entering the outer atmosphere—its lower, tapered end kissed the southeastern beaches, while the upper end was much like an expanding fan, covering an entire portion of the map in the shape of a jagged, narrow triangle. While swaths of the northern portions of the fissure were clothed in forestry, the narrower portions were still steep and rocky.

Rhys and his terrible trio followed the subtle traces of Mystic aura that radiated from a cave near the northern side of the narrow portion of the fissure. Star knew that general detail, but knew nothing more. They had spent the better part of the afternoon simply finding the cave. Thankfully, once they caught a trace of the Rock Guardian's aura, going into the abode was trivial.

"Rhys? What's wrong with having Owen with us for this? We'd be super strong together!" Demitri said.

"It's simply not a good idea to have four non-Elites in one team for something such as this," Rhys stated. "We need to have strong and competent members—both qualities in one Pokémon—on all teams. You three simply aren't experienced enough yet. The same goes for Owen, who just entered the Thousand Hearts Society."

"I guess…" Demitri said.

"Jus' feels like…" Gahi said. "I'unno. Fighting with'm feels… right, y'know? The four of us as a team. Yeah…."

"Well, that simply cannot happen right now," Rhys said simply. "Let's focus on the task at hand. That is—the Guardian of the Great Crevice, home of the Rock Guardian."

The cave was thankfully more level than the fissure itself had been. Countless times, Gahi had to be rescued from teetering off the edge; Demitri had outright fainted from looking down, and had to be hauled along by Mispy's vines. Rhys, much more adept, only advanced slowly for their sake.

The bottom was visible thanks to the angle of the sun, but it was still very far down. Rhys, however, could sense the Guardian's aura, now that they were near.

Rhys held up his paw and created a small, luminous Aura Sphere to light the rest of the way. "Let's go," he said.

"Ngh, this isn't gonna be very fun," Demitri said, looking at the cave walls. "Rock Types. I guess I'm fine against them, and so is Mispy and Gahi, but…"

"Heh, yer the only one that's neutral against'm," Gahi said. "Sure, yeh know Brick Break, but it ain't yer own Type. Not gonna be as strong, eh? Yer body ain't adapted ter that."

"Yeah…" Demitri looked away." I guess—if we have to fight, then maybe… you know… I'll stay back for now."

They turned another corner; they finally saw it. It was very faint, but it was a glow visible even to those who couldn't see auras, like Demitri and Gahi. They continued to walk in total silence.

It only broke when Demitri spoke up. "Rhys?" he said.

"Hm?"

"What's a Divine Promise?"

"Hmm…" Rhys continued walking. "It is something that only Mystics can do—that is, those with powers related to the Orbs. Simply put… making a Divine Promise is keeping yourself to your word—or face the consequences. In the case of a Promise… breaking it would mean relinquishing your Mystic power to the Pokémon you made the promise with."

"Y-you mean, if you broke your Promise with Zena, then…!"

"Then I would no longer have any form of Mysticism. I would not have enhanced power. I would be nothing but a simple, mortal Lucario." Rhys turned to look back at Demitri. "That is why Zena was so surprised when I accepted the agreement. Even the cleverest Pokémon in the world cannot break a Divine Promise without also losing their power," he said. "I phrased my Promise in such a way that there is no loophole—or, if there is one, I hadn't thought of it."

"W-wow… so you really don't want to be a Hunter any more, huh?"

"I do not," Rhys said. "Long ago, I fought for Star. But some fought harder, I suppose. And Star became disillusioned with her own cause, and asked for us to stop. We thought she was simply losing heart, and we pressed on. But I later realized that some Hunters… simply wanted more power. It had nothing to do with Star."

"O-oh, and… and Nevren is the same way?" Demitri asked.

Rhys nodded. "It seems that Nevren has quietly distanced himself from the other Hunters, too," he said. "I haven't seen him with the others for quite some time, even if we chat with them now and then, in our own pocket of the spirit realm."

"Wh—wait, when do you visit there?" Demitri asked.

"When I meditate," Rhys said.

"Oh."

"Did you kill… the Grass Guardian?" Mispy asked.

Rhys' steps lost their rhythm, but he regained it quickly.

"I have many regrets," Rhys said, "regarding my past as a Hunter. But I was not the one who killed the Grass Guardian. In fact, I was largely unsuccessful in those efforts. Wholly, actually."

"Y-you mean, even if you're super strong…?" Demitri asked.

"It wasn't necessarily strength that stopped me," Rhys said, "but perhaps… willpower. Mystic power is largely tied to the will. If, so to speak, your 'heart is not in it' when you fight, that Mystic power will not help you. In fact, it could hinder you. Meanwhile, a Guardian is fighting to survive. Their willpower could be… significant. In the end," he said, "My will to gain power was lesser than their will to live."

"Didn't stop yeh from beating Owen ter a pulp of Cheri dust," Gahi clicked.

"D'you think the others might have trouble with that?" Demitri said. "If a Guardian is scared they're being attacked…."

Rhys shook his head. "We can only hope things work out," he said.

"Too bad we didn't bring Anam. He'd just convince them by being friendly," Demitri said.

"Yes, well," Rhys said. "I'm sure I can be friendly."

None of his students looked convinced.

The light was growing stronger. Rhys held his arm out to stop the other three. Mispy stopped first; Gahi bumped into her rear, and Demitri tripped over Gahi. They squabbled amongst one another, but Rhys shushed them firmly, and they listened.

"The Guardian is just ahead."

They walked uneasily forward. Rhys didn't feel a particularly powerful aura ahead, but it was distinctly Mystic. He was very familiar with that general radiance. The cave was hidden simply due to the vastness of the fissure, but now that they were inside, it was plain who the Guardian was to the aura readers.

Demitri and Gahi were less informed. "Wow! Cool statue!"

In the center of the end of the cave—in a cavern large enough to fly in for a short distance—there was the statue of a Shiftry, accurate to the last detail.

"Whoever made this must be pretty good at the whole chisel thing," Gahi said.

The cavern rumbled softly.

Rhys, baffled at how dense they were, said, "That is the Guardian."

"Cease…"

The four stiffened. "Wh-uh—what was that?" Demitri said.

"Cease… your movements…"

The voice came from nowhere. It sounded masculine and deep, but nothing that they'd expect from a statue.

"What do you mean, cease our movements?" Rhys said.

"All movement must cease… to be one with the stone…"

The four looked at one another. Their mission was to befriend the Guardian…. Perhaps they could play his game for now. "Very well," Rhys said. "May we get into a comfortable position before tuning ourselves to the stone?"

The cavern rumbled angrily. "I will allow it."

"Into your meditative positions, everyone," Rhys said. "We must comply, as we are mere guests. We can converse later," he said.

"Meditate?" all three of them whined.

"CEASE."

The three scrambled to separate spots. Mispy sat down with her rear down, but her front legs propping the rest of her up, and closed her eyes. It wasn't very different from how she normally sat, but she kept her spine straighter than usual. Demitri sat down and tried to cross his legs, though they were too stubby for that, and it instead because a sort of position where the bottoms of his feet touched. It always tickled, but at least he could tune it out once he got in the zone. Gahi couldn't do much of anything in terms of contorting his body. The Trapinch rested his head on the ground, splayed his stubs for legs outward, and remained still. Rhys sat, legs crossed, and closed his eyes.

Rhys watched the chaotic auras of the trio. They were warped things, those auras; the light that they radiated had strange, lopsided sparks now and then that spurt from the edges of their flares. When they meditated, this light stabilized—at least mostly—into the gentle flames that they should appear as. Demitri's and Mispy's, in particular, looked quite stable.

As the late morning bled into noon, Rhys realized that this would be their eternity if they did not try to speak with the Guardian.

And then, suddenly, the silence broke.

Hey, everyone! We have the first Guardian! He's okay! He'll come with us, and he's super cool! …Guys? Hello?

Anam's voice echoed from Rhys' bag. The Lucario didn't even react.

Gahi mumbled aloud out of boredom. "What kind of luck is this?" Gahi muttered. "All this fightin' ter get here and the main Guardian's as boring as Rhys."

"I dunno about that," Demitri said. "He's probably even more boring."

"ALL MOVEMENT SHALL STOP," the Shiftry boomed. He didn't move, yet it was clearly the one speaking—through the vibrations of the cave.

Rhys didn't react. He kept meditating.

Gahi flinched and stayed put. Demitri softly said, "This test is to just not move…? For how long…?"

Mispy shifted where she sat, sighing.

The ground rumbled again and the Shiftry roared. "ALL MOVEMENT… SHALL STOP!"

The cave walls heaved, threatening to collapse around them. Mispy stiffened and shut her eyes, trying to meditate. Demitri and Gahi did the same. Rhys remained motionless.

A seemingly endless amount of time passed. Rhys watched, worriedly, as the auras of the three members of Team Alloy faded to the gentle undulations that indicated drowsiness. They weren't meditating at all, now—they were about to fall asleep.

And then, without any sort of stimulation and the overwhelming feeling of boredom, Mispy's head and leaf drooped slightly—and then, she fell over to her side, asleep.

The Shiftry roared through the mountain, screaming enough to startle Mispy awake. "YOU HAVE RUINED THE ATMOSPHERE OF STONE!" he roared.

Rhys cursed and stood up. Their chances of ending this without a fight evaporated completely.

"I wanted to do this peacefully!" he said. He aimed his Aura Sphere at the Shiftry, but just then, he saw his paw glow with a strong, yellow light. Rhys flinched and stopped his attack, as if he'd seen his very soul nearly slip from his body. Was this Guardian so weak that a single blast would kill him? How was he supposed to subdue someone that his weakest techniques would annihilate?

"Rhys?! What're you doing?!" Gahi said.

The Guardian wasn't moving. In fact, the Shiftry in general hadn't moved since they arrived, making it an easy target. It also made its attacks quite slow. There were a few seconds of dead air that they could think about how to approach and, for Rhys' case, safely subdue this Guardian.

"I—I can't fight him right now," Rhys said. "My attacks could kill. I—I can't do that."

"Wh—nggh, fine!" Gahi said, rushing for the Shiftry. The ground heaved; rocks fell on top of Gahi, burying him.

"G-Gahi!" Demitri and Mispy yelled. They rushed after him, helping him free of the Rock Slide, but Gahi was already growling from within.

"Guardian! Stop this!" Rhys said, but his words fell on deaf, rocky ears.

A great, white light shined from the cracks—Demitri and Mispy stumbled back, covering their eyes.

"No!" Rhys hissed, watching Gahi's aura flare and shift, crackling, black lightning coursing through the nearest rocks to the former Trapinch. One of the sparks zapped Mispy, and she was enveloped in that same evolutionary light—followed shortly by Demitri right next to her. Rhys watched anxiously, but then looked at the Shiftry. If Aura Sphere was too much, then perhaps he could do something weaker. The Lucario rushed toward the rocky Shiftry at great speeds, ramming against him, using the spikes of his paw to do some damage during the swift strike. Extremespeed would surely do less damage.

The Shiftry roared; more rocks fell from the ceiling. Rhys deftly avoided the attack with precise jumps, readying an Aura Sphere out of reflex. His paw lit up again—his Divine Promise in danger of breaking—and he held off, growling. He had to keep his students safe—but he couldn't attack the Guardian too much. But he wasn't going to listen to reason. His mind, like many Guardians who had become isolated for too long, had warped into something else thanks to their isolation. Surely the spirits that resided within his mind had conformed in one way or another to the Guardian's whims, and now he was focused on only one thing—stillness. Any violation of that angered him—but they couldn't stay still for long. They had to subdue him. They could handle him after that. Perhaps a friendlier voice like Amia or Anam—or even Star, in person—could help this broken mind.

The white light of evolution sparked black. Rhys glanced worriedly at them, but then it faded away. Emerging from this light was no longer a Trapinch, Chikorita, and Axew—but three new creatures. The Vibrava, Bayleef, and Fraxure took only a few seconds to marvel at their new forms. Gahi beat his new wings as if he'd had them his whole life. Demitri stared—and gasped in fear, slightly—at his new distance from the ground. Mispy struggled with her longer legs and neck, feeling awkward and lanky. But they adjusted quickly, and they let their instincts take over in the midst of battle. They jumped back into the fray.

Demitri ran toward the Shiftry and tensed his arms, slashing at the Rock Guardian with the best Brick Break he could muster; Gahi distracted the Shiftry by taunting the Shiftry with his complete defiance of stillness. This drew most of the Guardian's attacks toward him—and dodging them. The Vibrava was even faster than the already unnaturally speedy Trapinch he once was; his angular wings and slim body made for a very difficult target to hit. Mispy created protective, physical barriers around the whole team, blocking quite a few of the Shiftry's attacks. Reflect seemed to be very useful against the rocks.

"Hah!" Gahi said.

Demitri landed another blow, wincing at the hardness of the Guardian's body. His paw felt bruished, and he may have chipped a claw or two. However, it seemed that was enough to bring the Guardian down. His final roar was cut short—the statue of a Shiftry fell back. It was quite easy to hit a still target, and this Guardian was surprisingly weak anyway.

"I-is he… is he alive?" Demitri asked. "I—I didn't think I'd…!"

Mispy quickly walked over, stumbling over her feet. With her eyes closed, she could sense that the Guardian's aura was weak—but present.

"He's fine," Rhys stated, standing up. "Let's bring him back before he wakes up."

Demitri nodded, sighing with relief. Then, a new sensation flooded through him, and his arms trembled with excitement. "We evolved! We finally did it!" he shouted.

Mispy beamed, awkwardly stumbling forward to headbutt Demitri in the chest. Gahi buzzed his wings and rammed into Demitri next. "Heheh, and I evolved first," he said.

"Barely," Mispy countered.

"First is first," Gahi said, flying above them.

"And how are you two feeling?" Rhys asked.

"Never better!" Gahi said. Demitri and Mispy nodded.

Rhys could sense the excitement from them, even though it was a bit subdued due to a combination of mental exhaustion from the meditating and physical exhaustion from the battle, easy as it may have been in the end. Rhys suspected, however, that their less than explosive celebration was due to the fact that Owen had already beaten them to it. There was nothing to celebrate in their competitive hearts—only a fire to beat Owen to evolving when it really counted.

Demitri shook his head and leaned down to get a hold of the statue. "Urgh—he's solid rock!" he said.

"Uh, duh," Gahi said, descending.

Mispy smacked Gahi behind his head with a vine—as a Bayleef, they were much thicker, and the Vibrava slammed into the ground with a groan.

Demitri managed to balance the fallen Shiftry over his shoulder, using his massive tusk to keep the statue level. With his free hand, he pulled out their Badge—both the silver and gold ones. "Oh! That's right!" he said. He fumbled with the silver one, pressing a claw on the center button. "Hey, guys! We did fine! Our Guardian is just fine!"

Rhys nodded. "Let's meet the others at the village," he said.