With Quagsire's help, the four Pokémon made it back to the mainland of the Mist Continent on the western shore by the middle of the afternoon. From there, all they needed to do walk south towards the forest. As such, once they said their goodbyes to Quagsire, the Pokémon ran their way to the forest. Or at least, Light and Fennix held Espurr while the three of them ran.

They kept going until they saw the forest on the horizon before stopping to take a break to rest up a little. Light and Fennix quickly set up a quick makeshift base camp and a cloth on the ground. There, they set up a platter of berries and some Elixir drinks for everyone to eat and drink to get their energy up.

While they were doing that, Amaranth had her eyes on the angle of the sun in the sky. "We might end up cutting things a little close. The good thing is, we're apparently close, so we should be fine."

"But while we're here…" Light stopped for a moment, hesitant on bring this up. However, it had been welling in him since their encounter with Mewtwo and he wanted answers now. "Well…"

Amaranth sighed, her eyes lowering back towards the group. "Yeah, I suppose you want an explanation for me being a kidnapper and attempted murderer, right?"

"I'd…sort of rather not ask," Light admitted. "I can tell this isn't something you really want to talk about. But at the same time…"

Amaranth met his eyes with hers, showing a lack of fear in them. "As little as I like it, you've already heard enough. So I might as well tell you what you want to know."

Amaranth closed her eyes and sighed. "Do any of you know the meaning behind the name Amaranth?" the shaymin asked. Light, Fennix, and Espurr all glanced at each other. The pikachu didn't know, and he guessed by the confused faces of the other two kids that they had no clue either. Eventually, Amaranth spoke and got everyone's attention back at her.

"Amaranth, in the language of flowers, is known as the immortal flower," the Grass-type explained. "That's…who I am. I am a Mythical Pokémon, and I can live for as long as I want."

"You told me that before," Light mentioned, remembering that night that felt so long ago even though it was only two days. "You mentioned that was why you didn't want to make friends with anyone in the Expedition Society." However, as Light thought about that day, he remembered something else he mentioned. "Wait…I asked you before if lost someone before. T-that's exactly what happened, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Once, a long time ago, I had a son."

"A son?" Fennix asked after finishing off a berry. "Why would that matter? Wouldn't they be a shaymin like you?"

"Adopted son," Amaranth clarified. "I found an Egg that was abandoned by their parents. And I tried to find their parents, going all the way to the Water Continent, but ended up adopting the kid as my own son. It led to the happiest time of my life but was also the worst mistake of my life."

"I…had a family," Amaranth continued, her wide eyes and unfocused. "I had a son, who got a mate, and had a son himself. And my grandson also found himself a mate and had two young children. I was on the top of the world. But I forgot one important thing. My son was getting old. Real old. It was a miracle that he was alive for that long, but he didn't last much longer. Soon, he died."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," Espurr stammered, her mouth open in shock.

Amaranth closed her eyes. "That event wasn't the last. My great-granddaughter started hanging out with the wrong crowd. She had ambitions and wanted to take those ambitions where she could. She eventually left the tiny village, and her and her friends eventually joined an outlaw group. And I went with them, wanting to both get away from home and protect her in a place where the rest of her family couldn't. That was when it started. That was when I joined the 'Venenum Spinam'. The Poison Thorns."

"Venenum Spinam," Fennix repeated.

Amaranth opened her eyes back up and turned her gaze towards the fennekin. "Yes, it's a word in the ancient tongue. It was a stupid name for a stupid group. One that died out pretty quickly. But that was the start of my 'outlaw' carrier."

The shaymin chuckled hollowly. "The Venenum Spinam took so much pride in the fact that they had a Mythical Pokémon in their groups. They boasted all around about me. But I did nothing for them. My job was only to protect my Great-Granddaughter. That's it. But…they figured it out eventually and started sending her on more and more dangerous missions to get me to participate in it as well. And that…" Amaranth audibly gulped, "killed her."

Light and Espurr both loudly gasped while even Fennix had a teary-eyed expression as she tried to catch Amaranth's eye.

"At that point. I was tired of it all. As part of the group I saw so much. So much death and destruction and I was tired of it all. And after she died, I snapped. I wanted to do something. Something to stop all this death. I wanted to find someplace. Someplace…I imagine is familiar to you all. …The Tree of Life."

"The Tree…of Life," Light breathed.

"I wanted to find Xerneas," Amaranth finished. "And either force him to make all Pokémon immortal…or have him end me. I wanted either one of those so badly that it was all I could think of. I committed horrible act after horrible act…and all for the stupidest of goals anyways."

Amaranth laughed again, a loud and broken laugh that disturbed Light more than anything. "Making all Pokémon immortal…hah! I knew nothing back then. I was an idiot. I don't even blame the explorers who caught me, since they stopped me from continuing with my stupid quest. And they gave me the chance to clear my head and realize how stupid I was. But that's what happened. That's why I became an outlaw and kidnapped and tried to murder to get my way. All for the stupidest of goals."

"So…that's it." Light stared into the fire. The pikachu wasn't exactly sure what he felt about Amaranth's story. He was grateful that the shaymin told him, but he didn't exactly like what he heard. It wasn't exactly the best thing to learn.

Fennix pointed her eyes and snout to the ground, and as Light glanced at her, he saw water forming at the bottom of her eyes. "Amaranth…sorry. I never thought you'd've went through something like that. All this time, I've been a such a big jerk to you. Sorry."

Amaranth scoffed, her face glancing off to the side at nothing. "I don't need sorrow or pity. Nor was I angry or depressed at your comments. I am a jerk, through and through. I really don't care. I can't anymore. The moment I care for something temporary is the moment I lose myself. So you have every right to hate me like you do. And it doesn't bother me one bit."

"But it does," Espurr perceptively noticed. "As much as you say it doesn't, your body language shows otherwise. I don't think it doesn't affect you as much as you say it doesn't."

Amaranth still faced away. "Let's move on from this. We've got better things to talk about them my past."

Light nodded. "Y-yeah, we should. I…think we all need some time to think this stuff over anyways. Time when we're not worried about what we're doing next. For now…" Light stood up and stretched, "I'm feeling ready to get moving through the dungeon again. Should we get going into the Twisted Forest?"

Everyone else also stood up, except for Amaranth, who was still not catching anyone else's eye. "One more thing. And this is much more important than my past."

Fennix chuckled. "I kinda think everything is more important than your past to you."

Light tilted his head and lifted his ears, ready to listen. "What's up?"

"A warning, if you will. I think it's about time for me to tell you what I've been doing so much research on. Since Mewtwo has all but confirmed my suspicions."

Light sat back down. "What's going on?"

Amaranth turned her gaze back towards Espurr once again. "Espurr, I have one last question for you. It's one I've asked you many times before, but I want to make sure one last time. Do you remember anything about your parents?"

"No, I don't," Espurr confirmed. "No matter how much I try to think about it…I can't remember anything."

"And trying gives you a massive headache, doesn't it?" Amaranth asked.

Espurr nodded. "Y-yeah, it does. Well, nowadays it makes me feel very lightheaded…but it's still the same. I just can't remember it."

"Good. I'm sure of it, now. I'm sure of what caused your Psychic Block."

"You do?!" Light and Fennix both asked in tandem.

"Is it the same thing you suspected…when you talked to me earlier?" Espurr asked. "The same thing that makes it…impossible for your friend to help me?"

Light's eyes pinged between the two in the interim of their conversation, confused as to what they talked about.

"Yes, and it isn't a pleasant thought," Amaranth said. "I don't know how to say this tactfully, so I'll just put it bluntly. I believe your parents were the cause of your Psychic Block?"

"M-my parents…did what?!" Espurr asked as she stood up and took a few steps back, her eyes wide.

"I believe your parents used their psychic powers to mess with your mind," Amaranth continued without missing a beat. "You were young when you parents left, but you weren't young enough that you should have no memories of them. Not only that, but something like a 4-year-old having the ability to survive on her own like you did until someone found you? I'm sorry, but I don't believe it."

Light's mouth hung open and his mind was blank. "So, what you're saying, Espurr's parents really, what?"

"I believe that, before they left, Espurr's parents used their combined psychic powers to tamper with her mind," Amaranth explained, looking at Espurr with her psychic powers. "With their power, they erased all her memories of them and places survival skill she needed until someone found her. I believe they also implanted a strong desire to stay in Serene Village, regardless of her actual feelings on the subject. Unfortunately, tampering with a Pokémon's mind is an extremely dangerous thing to do. For reasons that should be obvious to anyone with a sane mind."

"And this tampering, that was what caused her Psychic Block?" Light asked. He knew the answer to that question already but couldn't help but ask anyways.

"More than likely," Amaranth confirmed. "In all honestly, Espurr is lucky to be alive right now. The moment her parents tampered with her mind, she was a walking time bomb. She could have had her Psychic Block start at any time."

"Th-that's horrible!" Fennix stammered.

"D-do you know why…it happened now?" Espurr asked, though Light could hear the hesitancy in her voice.

"Honestly, no, I don't," Amaranth admitted. "I've got a few suspicions, but I don't know the exact reason. It could be because you're nearing the age of maturity and your mind and body are going through some changes. It could be because you were thinking about why you were stuck in Serene Village and accidentally triggered your Psychic Block. I'm guessing the later, since you've mentioned several times that thinking about it gives you a headache. But it could also be a combination of the two. I really don't know and couldn't tell you."

"Unfortunately, that leads to a massive problem. Two of them in fact. First off, remember when I mentioned that if we failed to find her parents, I'd be able to bring in someone I know to try? That's not possible with this specific problem. Espurr's parents were the ones who caused this problem, so they need to be the ones to fix it. As for the second problem…let's just say this will be a more difficult operation and leave it at that."

Light glanced over at Fennix and noticed that she was a mixture of many things, her eyes wide and tears forming below them being the most prominent, but her brows were also furled down in anger. "Why…why would Espurr's parents do something like that?!" Fennix yelled in an affronted voice.

"Isn't that the question of the day?" Amaranth dismissed, and Light could easily tell that she knew the answer to that question. "Regardless, we've been here long enough. We've got a dungeon ahead of us, so let's get moving."

Light sighed. "I suppose so." Light stood up once again, though this time it was slower and without nearly the amount of energy he did before. "Let's go everyone."

With everyone rested up and ready to go, and with twilight in the background, they proceeded into the Twisted Forest. After his experience with the Moonlit Forest, Light was glad to see that this forest was both nowhere near as dark or cramped as the Moonlit Forest, meaning that they were able to navigate through it without too much problems. Not only that, but the enemies inside the forest weren't too difficult as well.

Tangela, Seedot, and Skidoo, the dungeon had plenty of Pokémon like that. All small basic Grass-type's that weren't that strong. Fennix with her Flamethrower, Amaranth with her Air Slash, both of them took out most of their opponents without too much trouble. And any enemy that managed to sneak up on them was instantly met with Light's tail. So the enemies were absolutely no problem whatsoever. Light felt relieved at first, since things were going so well. There was even a nice breeze that made it so they weren't too hot in this forest.

However, that joy soon disappeared when they figured out exactly what they were dealing with in this dungeon. They had been walking for about an hour, or at least Light felt like it was around an hour, when Light noticed a clearing in the trees pouring out sunlight. He was confused and glanced back to see that everyone else was as well. But, knowing that they wouldn't figure out anything from here, Light took them forward beyond the clearing to see what they could find.

And once they did they saw yellow skies with a few clouds in them and a grassy plain stretching out before them. Light examined their surroundings and immediately noticed the area they set up base camp in. Therefore, he realized how true Mewtwo's words were.

"Well…that was a pointless waste of time," Amaranth bluntly stated.

Light glanced back at the forest, his eyes wide in shock. "H-how, though? I didn't notice anything out of place. Or any indication that we were going on a right or wrong path."

Amaranth locked eyes with the pikachu. "Do you know anything about this 'Inflora Forest' that Mewtwo mentioned was this place's 'sister dungeon' or whatever?"

Light once again pulled out the map on his gadget. "Let's see here…Inflora Forest. Hmm…alright, got it. The Inflora Forest has a similar gimmick where if you go through the forest the wrong way, you'll end up back where you started. In that dungeon, you had to look at the flower at the entrance and follow that same type of flower throughout the dungeon."

"But there weren't any flowers!" Fennix exclaimed. "At least…I didn't see any."

"I didn't notice…any either," Espurr assured them. "And since you guys have been fighting everything rather well…I was paying attention to everything else. There were no…out of place patches of grass, nothing strange about the trees, nothing that I could really see…that would tell us where to go."

Light glanced at her and noticed she was facing the ground. So he pushed his own emotions back and forced a smile on his face. "Thanks for that, Espurr."

Unfortunately, Espurr didn't meet his eyes. "Not that it…helped much."

Light shook his head. "Nah, I'm sure it'll help. We just have to think of what the way to go is."

"Would Guiding Wands help us?" Amaranth asked.

Light scratched the back of his head. "They don't in Inflora Forest according to the Pokémon Nexus's data. We could try it here as a last resort. Problem is, we don't exactly have a lot of them, and we don't know how long the forest will go."

Amaranth scoffed and rolled her eyes. "'We don't have a lot of them' huh? Maybe we shouldn't have burned them to make torches, then? Just a thought."

Fennix blushed. "Well…I mean…"

Light continued to scratch while he thought about the possibilities. "There must be some way to go through it. Some indication we're missing."

"Hmm…" Espurr closed her eyes in thought for a few seconds, too. Eventually, though, she opened her eyes back up wide. "Hey…I just thought of something."

Everyone turned their attention to the small girl. "Has anyone else…noticed the lack of wind out here, despite the fact that it was blowing…noticeably in the forest?" Espurr asked.

Light glanced at everyone else, specifically looking for any ripples in their fur that would indicate it was blowing, as he couldn't really feel anything himself. But he didn't even notice a single piece of fur that was riffled by any blowing, certainly not anything as noticeable as what was in the forest.

"Hmm…yeah, you're right!" Light smiled as the possibility hit him. "I don't think there's much wind at all."

"So, you think the wind might be the secret to going through the dungeon?" Amaranth repeated. "That seems…too simplistic."

Light shook his head, holding onto the hope they got with all his being. "What do you mean by, 'too simplistic?' It sounds exactly like something that a Mystery Dungeon would do."

"Remember what Mewtwo said? This dungeon is a place that even the best explorers from H.A.P.P.I couldn't go through. You'd think someone would think to 'follow the wind'. Two kids aren't going to figure out through a simple observation what many Pokémon around here took years to figure out."

A part of Light was feeling frustrated, but he clutched his right arm with his left to calm down a little. "We don't have much else we can do. We might as well try it out."

Amaranth rolled her eyes. "It's a waste of energy, but whatever. Let's just get this over with."

So the four Pokémon walked into the forest once again, walking with the wind blowing behind their backs. Luckily, in this walk through the forest they faced no new enemies, so the walk was without turbulence. Unluckily, they saw the same clearing once again and went through to find themselves back at the start.

"W-what?!" Fennix yelled. "Back again?!"

Light's heart fell as he saw the darker shades of purple approaching in the sky. "That…didn't work how I was hoping it would."

Amaranth scoffed. "I warned you. The wind was too easy. Too obvious of a choice for anyone with basic observation skills. That…and I thought of something else on the way. I don't think one can just walk through normally. I think the guardians of the forest won't let them."

"The 'guardians of the forest'?" Fennix asked. "You mean, Celebi?"

Amaranth glared at her. "Guardians, plural. No, not Celebi. Vivi and Selena."

"My parents?!" Espurr asked.

Amaranth turned her gaze towards Espurr. "Yes, your parents. I could be wrong, but I imagine they're using their psychic powers to mess with our perceptions of the place, preventing us from moving forward. So long as their psychic power is at work, we're stuck constantly returning back to the entrance."

Light scratched the back of his head. "So, how would we get through that?"

"Isn't that the question of the day," Amaranth mused. "If Espurr had her psychic powers, she could use her telepathy to help. I'm sure that she could see the way at that point. She could easily connect to her parents and figure out where they are. But without any psychic powers…"

"If it's my parents then…" Espurr turned her eyes towards the forest. "…Light, Fennix, I want to go in there and try something."

"Try something?" Amaranth asked.

Espurr glanced back at the group, desperation on her face. "Please."

Amaranth shrugged. "If you want to try, I suppose we can't stop you. Though, as you've probably noticed, we don't exactly have a lot of time left. It's sunset."

"I think…it will work," Espurr nodded encouragingly.

So the four Pokémon once again walked into the forest, this time everyone following behind Espurr. Once they walked a decent length in, Espurr lifted her head up into the leaves covered sky. Espurr closed his eyes, and Light walked closer to her, unsure what exactly she was doing.

"Mom…dad!" Espurr yelled as she opened her eyes. "P-please! I need you! Please let us through!"

Everyone stood there, shocked at what she did. "…What?" Amaranth barked. "That's the big thing you wanted to try out? What makes you think…"

However, the wind suddenly started blowing in a different direction then what it was blowing before. Espurr's eyes opened wide seeing that while Amaranth had her mouth agape. Light couldn't blame the shaymin, while it was potentially true that Espurr's parents were the ones blocking them, he didn't expect them to just open the door for them. However, he had to admit one thing. If this was Espurr's parents letting them through, that made him more hopeful that they were moral Pokémon, despite what they did.

"Let's go," Espurr definitively said, no doubt anywhere on her face.

"Be careful," Amaranth warned. "I'm not sure It trust this."

The quartet continued, once again following the wind. This time, though, there was no sudden shifts, no variances in their path. They walked forward without moving any other direction through the dungeon. It was a rather easy walk, and Amaranth noticed this. Light saw her eyes shift as she became more and more suspicious. It sent a chill down his spine, and he hoped more than anything else that she was wrong.

Eventually, though, they found a small opening between a few trees, one that almost seemed like a door could fit between them. Espurr quickly walked through as she saw it, Light and Fennix following close behind. When they passed the opening, they entered into a small glade that was surrounded by trees on most sides and a rock wall on the far side. The glade wasn't the thing of note, though. Standing in the middle of the glade, was two different meowstic, one male and one female. Light didn't know for sure, but the recognition on Espurr's face told him it was true. They finally reached their objective. There, standing before them, was Espurr's parents.

"Mom? Dad?" Espurr asked.

"Espurr?" both of them asked at the same time. "I-it can't be."

Amaranth walked forward. "You two are Vivi and Selena, right?"

The two meowstic glanced at each other. "Y-yes, I'm Vivi," the male meowstic said. He had a higher pitched male voice.

"A-and I'm Selena," the female meowstic said. She had a smooth clear voice. "You…are you really our daughter?"

Amaranth did not follow up on her question after that confirmation. She audibly inhaled and gave a deep breath honing her emerald eyes on the pair and she stood in silence as if she was deep in thought about something. As Light glanced at her, he couldn't really figure out what the shaymin was thinking.

Espurr's eyes darted away from her parent's as she spoke. "Y-yes, I am. I'm from…Serene Village. In the old house. M-mom…d-dad."

Light expected Espurr and her parents began to walk closer to each other, and Espurr's parents did attempt to walk closer to their daughter. However, Espurr instead skid behind Amaranth, her eyes still not connecting with her parents. And Amaranth gave both of the meowstic as deadly of a glare as she could. Using Psychic, Amaranth pulled out her Expedition Society badge and showed it off.

"My name is Amaranth, and I am from the Expedition Society. Vivi and Selena, you two are under arrest for your crimes as part of the Blood Moon Bandits."

An: For those of you who have read my previous stories, yes, Amaranth is exactly who you think she is. For those of you who haven't, don't worry, everything you need to know about Amaranth is known to you now. But she did make a prior appearance in my stories under a different identity. This is the closest thing to a conformation I'll give, though, both to not confuse new readers with information about a different story and because it's mostly irrelevant to the current one outside of the info I've given.

But now we know Amaranth's past. There's just one other pair who have a lot of explaining they need to do.

Beta read by TheGoldCrow