"Where am I?" Aamira looked around. Everything around her was infinitely black. She walked around. Her footsteps echoed loudly. "Is this a dream?"

A bright light appeared in front of her. It was so bright that she had to shield her eyes. The light started to fade and she looked to see what it was.

"Why do you dare to come here?" The pokemon said. "Why have you returned, human?"

"Wait, aren't you… Suicune?"

"Yes." He had the appearance of a blue wolf. His long purple mane rippled like water. The ground (or whatever it was) that he stood on also rippled like water. "What have you done, human?"

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked. "How do you know I'm a human?"

"Playing dumb will get you nowhere! You've heard the legend and yet you haven't turned back into a human!" He pointed at her scarf. "You're unfitting to wear that scarf! I once protected legendary pokemon along side you, and now because of you I am one! And with it comes all of the pain and suffering!"

"What? The… The legend…? So it really was me?"

"Yes! You tried to steal my crystal before! The memory I stored in it has been tampered with! Could you not tell!"

"You mean why I couldn't hear everything? That was your memory?"

"That's all that's left of me because of you!" Suicune roared. "It's all because of you! And now you still seek to steal the power of legendary pokemon?"

"Suicune, please! Listen! I can't remember anything from before. If I really did do all of that stuff in the legend, then the reason I don't feel guilty is because I don't remember doing any of that. But if I did, I'm sorry. I don't want any power or anything and I would do anything to make it up to you."

He was quiet for a long time. "The aura distortion… That is also your doing."

"What? No, it isn't!"

"Not intentionally. Humans and pokemon were never meant to exist in one world. Because you exist here, the world's aura is being distorted. So I'll give you a choice. Either go to the human world, or disappear." A fog rolled in and Suicune started to disappear.

"I would go to the human world if I only knew how!" Too late. Suicune was already gone.

"Aamira!" Quill shouted.

Aamira shrieked and sat up. She was panting hard. It felt like she had just run a marathon. "It was… Suicune…"

"Suicune?" Roy said. "Wait, you mean the pokemon of the north wind? From the legend?"

Aamira nodded. "He said I either have to go to the human world, or… or disappear."

Quill jumped to his feet. "What? But that's insane! It's not like you can just go home whenever you want! And disappearing is out of the question!"

"Just be happy that Team Overgrow already left." Mankey said. "You can't tell them about this. Sceptile's been really strange lately. Who knows what he'll do?"

Aamira shivered at the thought. "Wait, it's today the day of the team vs. team battle?"

"Yea. We should probably get going." Quill knew that she had intentionally changed the subject, but who wouldn't have?

Everyone arrived outside the coliseum. Team Overgrow and a few other teams were already there.

Sceptile turned and saw them and crossed his arms. "Well look who finally showed up."

"What do you mean by that?" Quill asked. "Oh wait. We couldn't be." He tried to look around the other teams to see who their team was up against.

"Relax. They never put teams from the same country up against each other in the team vs. team battle. That would completely go against the point of this."

"Is it just me, or is his talking coarser than when I first saw him?" Roy asked.

"Aye, that's what happens when he gets upset." Venusaur said. "C'mon! We have to get ready!"

Sceptile turned to Team Sleuth before leaving. "Good luck today."

"I think he's finally warming up to us again." Quill said to Aamira after Sceptile left.

"No he isn't. Just look." Aamira pointed to the bulletin board. It had all the team matchups for who was fighting who. Right next to Team Sleuth was Team Rio.

"Oh, bad luck for you two!" Roy said. "Even so, you better win this!"

'He's braver than he was before.' Aamira noticed. 'I guess my plan to let him win that attack tournament paid off. I should probably be careful. I can't afford to hold back next time.'

"Oh, look at this! We're up against Team Static! They're rookies like us. This shouldn't be a problem." Mankey said with her usual energy. "Well, we're off to prepare for the match." Mankey ran off with Roy close behind.

"I'm kinda nervous about this…" Quill said. "They're a tough team aren't they? I mean, you remember how his Aura Sphere sliced clean through yours."

"Yea. How can I forget? Well, we'll just have to out smart him! Isn't that what he's afraid of? It's brawn over brain in his book, so it shouldn't be too hard."

Quill laughed. "Yea."

Aamira looked back at the bulletin board. "Wait, weren't there more teams than this? I know there had to be."

"Yea, there were a few more, but it's a first come first serve sort of thing. After a certain number of teams got to the second floor, the other teams that were left behind were teleported out and automatically lost. It's game over for them, unfortunately."

"Harsh. I guess we'll just have to stay on our toes."

Later that day, everyone had gathered at the coliseum.

"Welcome to day two and the second event of the Investigator Trilogy!" Altaria shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. "Today we'll have teams from different countries competing against each other in a team verses team battle!" The crowd cheered. "The rules are simple. There will be two rounds. In the first round, team one will be the challenging team and team two the opposing team. To win, the challenging team has to knock out all of the opposing team members. The opposing team will only have to knock out one of the challenging team members. This is the way it would work in a dungeon battle. In the second round the first team will be opposing team and the second will be the challenging team. Now, for the first match, playing for Sylva, is Team Sky starting out on the challenging team." The crowd cheered as Roy and Mankey walked onto the battle field. "And, playing for Tempestas, Team Static starting out as the opposing team." The crowd cheered again.

Team static was a small team, like theirs. It had two members: A Pachirisu and a Shinx. Of course, being from Tempestas they were bound to be a lot stronger than they appeared.

The referee (one of the Swablu) gave the signal to start.

Mankey jumped into the air. Roy used quick attack on Pachirisu. Mankey used a Karate Chop attack from the sky. Shinx used Spark, but Mankey's Karate Chop sliced straight through it. The crowd cheered. Shinx collapsed and struggled to get back up.

"Wow, I had no idea Mankey was so strong." Aamira said.

"That's not it." Quill said. "I think that Roy attacking Pachirisu was just a distraction so Mankey and Shinx would be left facing off against each other. Since they're opposite genders Shinx's ability, rivalry, make his attack lower. If Roy had attacked him, rivalry would have raised his attack."

"I don't believe what I'm seeing!" Altaria said. "Shinx is completely helpless to defend himself and his attack is too low for him to fight back! As much as pachirisu's trying to help her partner, Roy's speed is stopping her in every turn! Ooh! Mankey just took a critical hit, but it doesn't seem to have done much. Except, of course, raising Mankey's attack because of her anger point ability. It seems they're really playing to their strengths and special abilities in this battle."

Quill laughed.

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

"I just remembered the two abilities Riolu have. It's a bit ironic. One of Riolu's abilities is steadfast, which raises its speed whenever it flinches. The other one is inner focus, which prevents it from flinching."

"Well how does that work?" Aamira asked.

"Well inner focus doesn't prevent flinching from the attack Focus Punch, but look at how nervous Roy still is. He's flinching at every turn, which is making his speed go way up! Look, Pachirisu can't keep up at all now! I think it's actually his fear that's making him so strong. How weird."

"Well what would you expect? He got attacked all the time. Since he couldn't fight back, what else could he have done but run?" Aamira smirked. "I wonder if he would have won yesterday in the Quick Attack event even if I hadn't let him."

Mankey used Seismic Toss on Shinx. He fainted and was no longer able to battle. Mankey and Roy ganged up on Pachirisu. Pachirisu used Discharge. Mankey jumped and avoided the attack. Roy ran circles around Pachirisu and avoided the attack. Pachirisu blew a kiss at Roy. He looked at Pachirisu and blushed. Pachirisu winked at him and used Discharge. Roy, for some reason, kept running into to the attack.

Quill was blushing slightly. "That… That was Sweet kiss! Roy's confused and can't tell which direction is which. This is bad."

Mankey tried to use Karate Chop again. Pachirisu was too fast. She used Charm and dodged Mankey. She repeated the attack and dodged Mankey's again. Soon Mankey stopped trying to attack. She was too slow to keep up with Pachirisu.

Roy recovered from his confusion and realized if they were going to win this, he had to attack. He tried to attack, but got his by a powerful electric attack. Roy fell to the ground.

"Could it be all over?" Altaria said. The crowd started shouting.

"Come on, Roy!" Aamira shouted.

"It looks like Roy's down for the count, which makes Team Static the— wait…"

Roy struggled and eventually was able to stand up, though badly hurt. Some of the crowd cheered, and some of them booed, but Roy looked more focused than he ever had before.

Pachirisu attacked with Discharge. Roy used Iron Defense to block it. Then Roy used Bullet Punch and knocked out Pachirisu.

"Yes! That's it! Both Pachirisu and Shinx have been knocked out! That means the winners of the first round are Team Sky!"

After being healed by the medics, Team Sky won the second round and the team vs. team part of the tournament. Next up was Team Overgrow. To Aamira's astonishment, the team they were going up against was Team Blazer.

"This isn't good!" Quill said. "If Team Blazer doesn't win this, then Sceptile will…"

Aamira looked over at Charmeleon. She had never been so worried before. Sceptile and Venusaur were a sight to see. Venusaur's Frenzy Plant and Sceptile's Leaf Storm made for a powerful combination. They seemed to have no strategy, but their powerful attacks were strong enough. Infernape's Close Combat was too fast to see coming though. After she attacked, Sceptile, Typhlosion and Charmeleon used a combination of fire type moves to finish him off and ended the first battle.

In the second battle, they made a huge comeback. Team Overgrow won by a double knockout, even though they only had to knock out one of their members. Unsurprisingly, the two that were knocked out were Charmeleon and Infernape. They went into a tie breaker round. Both teams had to knock out all of the other team's members. It didn't seem fair though since Team Overgrow had less members and were at a type disadvantage, but Aamira still found herself cheering for Team Blazer, in spite of some stares from the other Investigation Teams who couldn't believe that a Sylvan was cheering on an Ignian. And an Ignian team that was up against a Sylvan team for that matter.

Team Blaze and Team Overgrow attacked each other mercilessly. Their attacked collided. There was an explosion and the two teams were enshrouded in smoke. When the smoke cleared, Typhlosion, Infernape, and Venusaur were all out cold. Charmeleon stood over the half conscious Sceptile. Both were breathing heavily.

Charmeleon said something to Sceptile, but they were too far away to hear. Aamira guessed what he said based on the movements of his mouth. "You know I didn't do it."

Sceptile responded, "It was in a situation much like this, wasn't it? What are you waiting for?"

Charmeleon didn't move. "I won't attack someone while they're down."

Sceptile started up at him, struggling to stay awake, then lost consciousness. The crowd cheered, but Aamira didn't move. How could she after what she had just seen.

"The winning team is Team Blazer!" Altaria said. "Up next, Team Sleuth starting out on the challenging team. Their opponent, Team Rio, on the opposing team."

Aamira used Quick Attack on Lucario. The two Riolu on Team Rio ran passed her and attacked Quill.

"Now this is unusual." Altaria said. "It seems that Aamira has left her team member behind to fight Lucario on her own."

Aamira and Lucario attacked without the help of any special moves. Although Aamira hadn't learned much from Sceptile before he decided he couldn't trust her, she still knew enough to keep up with Lucario. The two used Force Palm repeatedly both as attacks and to block the other's attack.

Quill fired a Swift into the air and knocked the two Riolu away from him. Aamira ran back towards Quill.

"You're not getting away from me that easily!" Lucario chased after her.

Aamira jumped over Quill, who until now Lucario had taken no notice in. Quill used Flame Wheel, which seemed stronger than usual and hit Lucario with it. The attack was fast, strong, and unavoidable. Lucario, being a steel type, was knocked out instantly.

"Finally their strategy is revealed." Altaria said. "Using Quill's blaze ability and Lucario's weakness against fire, they were able to finish him off. But now they have two angry Riolu to deal with!"

The two Riolu attacked, eager to avenge Lucario, but within a few minutes, both of them were defeated as well.

"Only one more round!" Quill said while they were being healed.

"You kids think you're so tough." Lucario said.

Not daring to underestimate them again, Lucario and the two Riolu fought as hard as they were able. Quill tried using his blaze ability again, but it didn't do any good. This time they were expecting it. Lucario dodged it and used Bone Rush to knock out Quill.

"One down and one to go." Lucario shook his head. "I may have been mistaken to underestimate you two, but you're still too weak to stand up against us. And who would have ever thought? A canine against a rodent? Of course he was no match."

"What?" Aamira growled at him.

Lucario laughed. "And you think you can do something about it? You're nothing more than a cute little puppy whose bark is bigger than her bite."

Aamira used Aura Sphere, although she had been trying not to this whole time so not to draw attention to herself. Lucario didn't even counter it. All he had to do was hit it aside with one of his paws.

"Do I have to remind you what a real Aura Sphere looks like?" Lucario used Aura Sphere.

This was the last straw for Aamira. She wouldn't let Quill and herself be pushed around like little kids any longer. She used Aura Sphere. It was different from the others though. This one was white and looked a lot stronger. It sliced through Lucario's Aura Sphere and hit him before he had the change to dodge. He yelled and was knocked all the way across the stadium and into the wall. He fell to the ground out cold.

Aamira, feeling she had over done it, ran over to him with the other two Riolu close behind her.

"W-Well, it seems that the winning team is… Team Sleuth, but…" Altaria shook her head and flew down to where Lucario was. Latias and Latios followed.

"This doesn't look good." One of the Riolu said. "Master Lucario! Wake up!"

Lucario twitched a little. He woke up and looked up at Aamira, his eyes burning with hatred. "You'll pay for this!" He collapsed back onto the ground and some medics came up to help him.

After all the battles were done, Team Sleuth and Team Sky headed back to the inn together. When they got to their room they found Sceptile pacing and looking more frustrated than he had lately. Team Sky went in, but Aamira and Quill stayed outside. They decided to go for a walk and maybe do a few missions since they had some free time.

"It's not like we can avoid them forever…" Quill said. "What can we do?"

"I've taken to just ignoring Sceptile, Venusaur didn't seem that upset, but after losing to Team Blazer, I doubt we'll be able to deal with either of them for a while." Aamira sighed. "Maybe I'll sleep on the roof or something. I mean, it's not like I don't feel safe now that Lucario's locked up in the infirmary. Really grouchy about it too, I hear."

Quill laughed. "Yea, I guess there's not much we can do." He was quiet for a few minutes. "What about that dream?"

Aamira stopped walking. "I don't really know… It wasn't just a dream, I know that. It was Suicune; I can just tell."

Quill looked into Aamira's eyes. "You know, your eyes seem to change color whenever we do something legendary pokemon or gem related. And twice you got some new Aura Sphere related ability. Hey, you know, now that I think about it your eyes have never stayed a weird color this long before. Why do you think that is?"

"Well…" Aamira thought for a minute. "Come to think of it, I never really did try to figure this out. Yea, I wonder why they've been this color for so long. Oh, wait. There was another time. With the Grace-Seed. Remember? My eyes stayed the same color for a while then too."

"Maybe it has to do with how close you are to the gems. Or the legendary pokemon."

"That would make sense." Aamira shook her head. "What am I saying? Nothing makes sense!"

Both of them laughed for a moment.

"Hey Quill, can I ask you something?" Aamira asked.

"Technically you just did."

Aamira smiled and rolled her eyes. "Well it's just… Why are you so cheerful all the time?"

"I guess it's because you're always cheerful."

"Am I cheerful now?"

"Well… No, not really. Huh, well… I don't know why I'm so cheerful. I just am, I guess."

Later the two of them were able to get back into the room without any trouble. They fell asleep quickly so they wouldn't have to listen to Sceptile or Venusaur.

Aamira was standing in complete darkness. Everything around her was black. She couldn't tell the floor from the ceiling or the sky, or the walls if there were any. She raised a paw. She could see it just fine, but everything else was black.

A light appeared far away. It was Suicune. The ground he walked on rippled like water under his feet like it had the pervious night. Suicune roared. "You would dare betray us again?"

Aamira jumped. "What?"

"Don't play dumb, it's not working! You were the one who sealed up all of the temples! The gems in nearly all of the temples are mixed up! This was your doing, was it not? And now, you haven't gone back to the human world!"

"I don't know what you're talking about! And I would go back to the human world if I knew how!" Aamira yelled at him.

Suicune roared again and Aamira fell silent. "And why should I believe this? At first I might have believed you somewhat, if it wasn't for this!" Suicune roared again and they appeared in the air over the stadium. Below them was Aamira and Quill fighting against Team Rio. Aamira had used the Aura Sphere with the wind aura that was mixed in it. "You said you didn't want the power of legendary pokemon, so what was that?"

"I don't know. Can you honestly say that you can control all of your abilities? Me being a Riolu, I shouldn't even be able to use Aura Sphere."

"But you're not a Riolu, have you forgotten!" Suicune seemed to get angrier the longer their conversation lasted. "You must disappear from this world! If you don't by the end of the tournament, I'll take care of you myself."

"Wait, can't you tell me more about this? I want to know." Fog rolled in around Aamira and Suicune disappeared.

Aamira woke up suddenly after falling out of her bed. She got up and laid back down. She sighed and tears came to her eyes. 'What am I going to do?'

A few days had passed since the second dream. Team Sleuth was fighting in the next round of the tournament. Infernape came after Aamira with a Fire Punch. She dodged and used Force Palm followed up by Drain punch. Finally after an hour an a half, with out a doubt her longest battle yet, Infernape was defeated.

"And that's it!" Altaria said over the cheers of the crowd. "The winner is Aamira from Team Sleuth, who has now advanced into the semi finals!"

"I'm in the semi finals?" Aamira laughed and did a back flip. Like all of the other teams that advance into the semi finals, she was awarded a silver medal. After she had received her medal, Aamira made her way outside of the arena to the bulletin board where a few of the teams were standing.

"They haven't updated it yet." Quill said when she got there. "We won't know who we're up against in the semi finals for at least a few more minutes."

Aipom jumped and hugged Aamira so tightly that she couldn't breathe. "YOU BEAT INFERNAPE! YOU BEAT INFERNAPE!" Suddenly she let go and punched Aamira on the arm. "That was supposed to be my job!"

Charmeleon crossed his arms. "You still wouldn't have been able to since you attacked her before the tournament even started."

"That's true I guess…" Aipom looked around. "I wonder where Team Overgrow is. Ever since they started considering you both traitors, they've been rooting for us. You'd think they would at least be here."

Mankey shrugged. "He probably knew that I would lose to Charmeleon, which I did. No hard feelings though. Oh, Aamira and Quill, since Roy was defeated two days ago that means it's up to your team to win this for Sylva!"

"It sure does, doesn't it?" Aamira said nervously. "Well maybe if we do win, it will finally get Sceptile off our case…"

"Venusaur cooled down at least." Quill said. "But all the last entrants look pretty tough. Milotic, who just defeated Ninetales, Plusle, who doesn't look that tough but he's a lot tougher than he looks, Blastois, as honorable as he is he still has a Hydro Pump that can blast through thick steel, and, of course, Charmeleon."

Charmeleon smirked. "Aww, I'm flattered."

"But wait, how is it possible for there to be six semi finalists. Wouldn't there need to be two finalists? For that there should only be four semi finalists." Aamira said.

"Ooh, that's the brutal part." One of the Swablu landed next to them. "If teams aren't eliminated due to cheating or other things, then the two that take the longest to finish their match will be eliminated. So basically it's a timed thing too."

"That sounds brutal!" Quill said.

"Yes, it is. Oh, I must be going. Glad to answer you question though." Swablu flew off in a hurry.

The bulletin board flipped over to be updated. Everyone looked towards it. After a while it flipped back around.

"Let's see…" Quill said. "First match, Milotic versus Plusle. Ooh that should be good. Type advantage against strength."

Aamira didn't say anything. She stared blankly at the names for the second match. Aamira versus Charmeleon.

Both of them turned to each other. Everyone else that saw it turned and looked at them also.

Aamira smirked. "You know, I'm noticing a recurring pattern. I always end up getting what I want. Remember? I said I wanted to go up against you in a fair fight!"

Charmeleon smirked. "You'll go up against me in a fair fight, and you'll lose to me in a fair fight!"

"Not on you're life, Sparky! I'll be winning this and bringing Sylva to the finals!"

"You? Win against me? In your dreams, Fluffy!"

Both of them turned away from each other, still with grins on their faces, and walked away to train before their match the next day.

Quill sighed. "Wow those two… This shouldn't surprise me by now. And they actually called each other Sparky and Fluffy. I guess it's better than what Lucario's been calling us."

"Quill, have you even been paying attention?" Mankey said. "Plusle and Milotic. Aamira and Charmeleon. Where does that leave you?"

"Huh?" Quill turned back to the bulletin board. "Quill versus… versus… Blastois! Oh, why did this have to happen?"

Mankey and Aipom laughed.