Aamira used Force Palm when she got close enough to Quill. He jumped to the side and used dig in order to dodge. Aamira figured he must have known she could sense where he was underground, but probably thought he could at least use Dig as a method of escape. That wouldn't work on her though; the minute she sensed him coming out of the ground, she would counterattack with Aura Sphere.

She sensed him coming up behind her and quickly turned and attacked with Aura Sphere just as he jumped out of the ground. What he hadn't been expecting was that his back was already flared up when he dug his way out. As soon as the Aura Sphere came towards him, he countered with Flamethrower and sent it back towards Aamira, who was

just slightly too slow to be able to avoid it.

'I can't believe I let him bait me like that!' She thought irritably as she got back to her feet. 'So that's the real reason he kept Dig in his move set. He must have known I would counter with Aura Sphere. Pretty clever, I have to admit…'

Quill attacked with Flame Wheel as Aamira stood up. Aamira feinted a dodge and just as Quill was changing direction, she shattered the ground with Force Palm and sent him flying into the air with the resulting shockwave. She jumped after him and before he could counter, managed to hit him with Drain Punch.

Quill landed on the ground hard. Drain Punch took more out of him than he remembered from their training together. It had been a while since Aamira had practiced with Drain Punch since she pretty much mastered it. 'She's gotten a lot stronger.' He realized. 'Even so, something seems off…'

Quill got up and dug underground. Aamira braced herself for his attack, knowing he'd probably try a different variation of the attack he used before. She followed his movements under the ground by tracking him by his aura. He stopped directly below her for an unusually long amount of time. Aamira ran towards the edge of the stadium as she realized what he was doing. Just when she got out of range, the floor of the stadium exploded from the Eruption.

A few people in the audience screamed as the lava and debris from the stadium flew into the air, but it never came anywhere near them. No doubt they were all still shaken up from all of the eruptions that had happened during Kyogre and Groudon's battle. Quill finally appeared when the remainder of the dust in the air settled, standing at the bottom of a crater that was about the same size as the original stadium.

Aamira immediately got excited when she saw the crater he had made. Rocky, almost mountain-like terrain. Just the sort of battle field Riolu were built to fight on!

Aamira ran down the side of the crater to pick up speed then slammed into Quill with Quick Attack. He rolled up and flared up his back as her attack him so that she was hit by his fire at the same time. Aamira couldn't help feeling a little jealous. She wished that Riolu had some sort of natural armor or fiery spikes for protection.

Still, Quill had taken more damage from the attack than Aamira had. Quill got up and burrowed into the side of the crater. Aamira waited for him to jump out of the ground somewhere. He spent a long time underground and Aamira couldn't tell what he was planning to do. He never stood still, but maybe it was just a rouse in order to buy time to think of some new strategy.

Quill jumped out of the side of the crater right in front of her. He attacked with Flamethrower, but this time Aamira was able to counter with Aura Sphere and the combined attacks hit him instead. Quill landed on the ground and ran up one of the walls of the crater and burrowed back into the side of the crater. A few seconds later, he came out from a different direction so quickly that Aamira was nearly hit by his Flame Wheel. She dodged to the side and he straightened out just as he got to the wall and burrowed back inside of it.

Quill started digging around again and stopped suddenly off to the left. Aamira looked around at all of the holes in the sides of the crater, and suddenly realized what Quill was doing. She tried to jump out of the crater, but she figured it out too late. A blast of fire shot out from all of the holes and they all hit her simultaneously. All that digging around Quill had done had created a sort of fire trap that he had set off with a Flamethrower that went through all of the connecting tunnels.

Aamira fell to her knees and she took a moment to try to recover from the attack. Her arms were the worst hit, but since the attack had been so widely dispersed, they weren't really badly burned.

Quill dug out of the crater and stood at the top looking down at her. "Come on, Aamira! You switched out Sucker Punch for our battle, didn't you? Both of the times you used your dark aura before, you were trying to help me, so you don't need to worry about that."

Aamira stared up at him. Until then she hadn't even realized that she had been scared enough to be holding back. She seriously thought that she was giving it her all and losing miserably, but now she realized that she had subconsciously been holding back out of fear of hurting Quill.

"I feel a little insulted really…" Quill said. "You just assumed that you would be able to hurt me, as if you were certain you could. Either way, you made a promise, didn't you? You promised that we would have a real battle and that neither of us would stop holding back. So come on!"

Aamira nodded as she started to recover from the shock of what Quill was saying. She jumped out of the crater with one jump and attacked with Drain Punch, which Quill just barely avoided. Aamira rolled in order to avoid a possible counter attack and turned to Quill and attacked with Aura Sphere.

Still recovering from dodging the Drain Punch, Quill didn't have time to dodge the Aura Sphere. He took a direct hit and was almost knocked back into the crater. It had hurt more than he remembered when she fought at full strength. For a moment, he started to doubt whether or not he would be able to keep up the battle.

Quill stood back up and attacked with Flame Wheel. Aamira jumped above him to dodge, the large flames just barely grazing the fur on one of her arms. Quill stopped after losing sight and looked around for a moment and was immediately hit in the back by Drain Punch before he had a chance to flare up his back again.

Quill stumbled and as he was falling, he managed to turn and counterattack with Flamethrower. This time his attack landed a direct hit, though he had still taken a lot more damage at this point.

Quill tuned around and attacked head on with Flame Wheel again. This time Aamira was able to dodge completely, so he stopped his attack and used Flamethrower from behind. Aamira turned and blocked the majority of the fire by crossing her arms out on front of her. She attacked with Aura Sphere, which Quill was able to dodge, but then she caught him off guard by transitioning into Quick Attack.

Aamira could hardly believe she had been able to make such a comeback like this. She had been in trouble for a while there, but now she was the one who was winning. Quill on the other hand, was now the one in trouble. He realized that Dig wouldn't work now that she was fighting seriously. She would easily figure out any tactics he would use with Dig now.

Unfortunately, Quill had no idea what Aamira's weakness was. He knew there was a nerve on the back of a Riolu's neck that caused them to freeze up momentarily, but there was no way he could get close enough to hit it. Other than that, he couldn't think of anything that could give him the advantage.

Eruption always tired him out pretty quickly, but he knew he had to try it again if he was ever going to win this. Quill used eruption and Aamira frantically tried to dodge the attack. Part of the attack managed to get her on the arm. Unfortunately, it was her right arm that was hit and it had gone completely numb. She used her right arm mainly while battling, which meant that she was in trouble again. If only she had listened when being taught by Lucario and Ruko and had learned to use both arms with the same amount of skill, she wouldn't be in this situation.

Aamira tried to think of what she could do with her right arm completely useless. Quill used Flame Wheel and Aamira hastily stumbled back towards the crater. She felt over the edge and Quill rolled over her. As she was falling, she kicked out at him as hard as she could and knocked him away. She righted herself as she fell towards the bottom of the crater and landed on all four with her tail outstretched in order to keep her balance.

Though Quill hadn't been expecting her to kick once her arm was hit, the outcome did give him an idea of what he could do to turn the battle in his favor. Right now it was hard to tell which one of them was winning, but whether this plan worked or not, the tide of the battle would be changed. The only question then would be who it would have changed in favor for.

Quill jumped into the crater after Aamira. He used Flame Wheel and used the slope of the crater walls in order to build up speed. Aamira dodged out of the way, but at the last second Quill turned and used Flamethrower, aiming at her tail. She hadn't noticed where Quill was aiming until it was too late. Aamira winced as her tail was burned badly from the close range fire attack.

When his attack ended, Aamira chased after him and used Drain Punch. Quill figured that his plan must have ended in a failure after all. Quill's head spun as what seemed to be the last of his energy was stolen from him. Out of desperation, he managed to tunnel into the ground. Aamira hurried out of the crater in case he tried to use the fire trap he had set before.

Quill appeared on the opposite side of the crater from her. Aamira could hardly believe that this determined, though exhausted, Cyndaquil she was looking at was the same one that she had first met at Shroud Lake such a long time ago. She had to smile, though she was careful not to let her guard down. The two of them were exhausted and no doubt they were both willing to let the other take a break for a few seconds. Or maybe he was just waiting to see what she would do next? She couldn't tell.

Aamira's tail was throbbing from the burn and she knew that this battle had to end soon one way or another. She started running towards her right and Quill ran to meet her in the same direction. As they converged towards one another, neither of them took their eyes off of the other for a single moment.

Aamira fired a couple of Aura Spheres at Quill, but he managed to dodge by running on all fours. He acted like he was about to jump in the air for the next attack, so Aamira crouched lower to the ground, preparing to dodge underneath him and turn to use another Aura Sphere from behind.

At the last second, Quill changed tactics. He rolled along the ground sideways and swept under Aamira's feet. In the position she was in, she wasn't able to readjust. She stumbled on the ground as Quill rolled over and skidded to a stop on all fours, causing the dust that his paws brushed up to billow around them, making it slightly difficult to see what was happening for a moment.

Aamira tried to catch herself with her arms, but her tail throbbed with pain and she stumbled forward, unable to keep her balance. She fell onto her injured right arm, which had taken most of her weight as she tried to catch herself due to the direction she had been stumbling in.

She couldn't move her right arm out from underneath her at all and she was too tired to roll herself over with just her left. She tried to straighten her tail so that she could lift herself up with her legs alone, but it would no longer stretch as far as it was supposed to.

She struggled with her legs and left arms for a while and tried in vain to move her right arm. 'So, it looks like my little brother beat me…' She smiled and, after reaching the point of exhaustion where she could barely move at all, she collapsed back onto the ground and didn't attempt to get up again.

Quill was still standing on all fours in the same position that he had been in after the last attack. Small sparks were sputtering from the spots on his back with every raspy breath he took to try to get his lungs to work properly again. After a while of standing like this, he became aware that the crowd was cheering.

Typhlosion called the match. It was over. Somehow, he had managed to win. Not only had he defeated Aamira, but Quill had also won the entire tournament! He let this sink in for a moment and started cheering along with the crowd.

"Yea, yea, congratulations…" Aamira was speaking in a tone that sounded like a strange mix of contempt and happiness. Quill figured she must have added the tone of contempt as her own special way of saying that she really meant it like no one but Aamira would say it. "Now if you don't mind…"

"Oh, sorry…" Quill ran over to Aamira and helped her up. "That was an awesome battle!"

"Yea, you were pretty good." Aamira said. "Let's see if you do as well next year, champ!"

Quill blushed and laughed nervously. Obviously this wouldn't be something that either of them would be forgetting in a long time.

After a few minutes, Charmeleon came down to the stadium floor carrying the trophy, and being followed by the other country leaders and the substitutes. He cleared his throat once before addressing the crowed. "I daresay that this will be a battle that no one will forget in a long time. While I know there were many pokemon here and those who were participating who had hoped that the trophy would go to their own country this year, I believe that there can be no argument as to the winner."

Charmeleon handed the trophy to Quill, which he could just barely hold with it being slightly bigger than he was. "The winner of this year's Investigator's Trilogy is Quill of Team Sleuth. As for our agreement, as Quill's team was formed in Sylva, the tournament next year will, of course, be held in Vine City, the capitol of Sylva. Now to end the festivities and the tournament, there will be a special event hosted by Ignis's own Team Jurassic in the main square while the stadium is repaired."

A few people in the stands bustled around and started to move towards the exits after another cheer for Quill, but when someone else entered the stadium, soon everyone took notice and they all turned to see what had happened.

Rhyperior came in through one of the side entrances along with a couple of the Rhyhorn from his force and walked up to all of them in the center of the stadium. He had a few words in whispered voices with Charmeleon so that even Quill with his amazing hearing couldn't tell what they were saying. Whatever it was, Charmeleon seemed upset with him being here. There was an unsettled murmur already making its way through the crowed as people started to wonder what had happened.

Eventually Charmeleon backed down and Rhyperior walked up to Quill and Aamira. "Yes, congratulations to you, Quill, and you as well, Aamira, for such an amazing battle. I daresay yours will be one that goes down in history. And now it is with my greatest displeasure that I should inform you that the two of you are under arrest."

Aamira stared down at her Aura Glass as she sat alone inside of a dark interrogation room. What a strange thing, to be promoted to Master Rank as Rhyperior and his Rhyhorn were escorting them away. Dragonite had informed them on their way there that it had been under orders of Noctowl to do so, so Rhyperior didn't argue.

The Master Rank Aura Glass looked entirely different from the others they had gotten previously. This one looked so sleek and cool that it made the other ones look big and bulky. The handle was made of a curved cylinder of smooth marble and the rest was made of a mix of silver and gold. At the bottom of the handle was a black diamond wrapped in a coil made from the same type of material as the frame. The frame itself surrounding the glass was much thinner than the others and the lens seemed slightly more powerful than others. On the top of the frame, her name had been engraved in a renaissance style calligraphy. Along the bottom of the frame, the team's name had been engraved in the same style.

Sitting alone in the dark like this was more boring than intimidating. Aamira couldn't think of what they could have done wrong. They had saved Ignis from being completely flooded! She couldn't imagine why Rhyperior was so upset with them, though she realized now that he was, after thinking back on how he had acted when Aamira had talked to Roy. There was no point in contemplating over it when she didn't know how long it would be until someone came into the room to talk with her. She would just have to be satisfied with the fact that someone would show up eventually and, until then, she would have some fun playing with her new Aura Glass. Judging by the footprints, it seemed as though Rhyperior spent a lot of time pacing in this room.

With nothing else to do and with the complete silence and the lack of light, Aamira soon started to doze off and slouched in her chair slightly. She heard the door creak open and tried to sit up straight as she rubbed her eyes. Rhyperior entered the room along with Kangaskhan, Sableye, and one of the Keckleon siblings.

"Falling asleep already, are we?" Rhyperior asked. "I hope you find our interrogation room to be comfortable. I'll try not to bore you too much with the formalities, so I'll just get straight to business; Quill wouldn't talk so we're relying on you to do the right thing now."

"Depends on what you mean by that." Aamira said. "Being in Team Sleuth for so long, I suppose we've gotten used to traitors. This would depend on what you would think of as doing 'the right thing' since, to my knowledge, neither Quill nor myself has done anything that either of us would consider to be the wrong thing."

"Is that so?" Rhyperior said. "We have multiple witnesses claiming that you've done just the wrong thing. Two accounts of robbery and other suspicious activity. Yesterday past noon, it was reported that you stole various items from both the Keckleon's store and from Kangaskhan's warehouse."

"That's ridiculous!" Aamira said. "We've never done any such thing!" she turned to Keckleon and the others. "You can't honestly say we've done anything like this!"

"I'm sorry, Aamira." Keckleon said. "But you're just too hard to miss, you know? There's no way it could have been someone other than you. Your eyes were still red and purple at the time, so there couldn't have been any mistake."

"There you have it." Rhyperior said. "And what of you, Kangaskhan? What do you have to say on this matter?"

"Around the same time Keckleon's store was stolen from, Quill came to my warehouse asking to take out a few items. When I got the keys for your team's storage, he snatched the key ring and stole several items from storages belonging to other people." Kangaskhan looked really guilty, or maybe just nervous. "I really do like you two. I mean… I did. But my eyes don't lie and there was no doubt it was Quill. He even showed me his Aura Glass, as is protocol, in order to get into storage."

"That's just not possible!" Aamira said, almost shouting.

"There were also several eyewitnesses that claimed that you were running around frantically some time before this happened." Rhyperior said, which Aamira figured must have been a mistake people had made when seeing her racing with Roy. "Whether this has any correlation with the crimes of which your team is accused is unknown. However, there was one other peculiar event that does nothing in your favor. Sableye, if you would recount what happened."

"I'd rather not…" Sableye admitted, staring hungrily at the black diamond on Aamira's Aura Glass. "Though if I have to, I will. Yesterday, sometime around noon, Aamira appeared at the bank and asked to make a withdrawal of all of their team's funds, which isn't something that any well off team would do on a regular basis."

"They stole all of our money!" Aamira snapped.

"What do you mean by 'they'?" Rhyperior asked.

"It has to be some kind of imposter or a trick or something!" Aamira said. "There's just no other explanation!"

"This is no trick, of that I'm convinced. We do have proof. You would be saving yourself a lot of trouble if you just told us where you hid the stolen items." Rhyperior said with a slight edge to his voice.

"We didn't steal anything!" Aamira said. "And anyway, if you're so convinced why wait until after the tournament to arrest us?"

"Because of Charmeleon…" Rhyperior said irritably. "I understand he's new at being a country leader, but by saying the tournament was open to anyone, it meant that I couldn't very well make Ignis look bad by going back on that promise. He convinced me to wait until afterwards, though I was convinced that even though I made him swear not to tell anyone, especially you two about this. I figured he'd probably try to get the two of you to leave Ignis the second the tournament ended, which is why we intervened when we did."

"Either way, you say you have proof for a crime we never committed." Aamira said. "What kind of proof do you have?"

"As was stated before, Kangaskhan saw Quill's Aura Glass as part of protocol, though Quill claimed that he never went to her warehouse that day alone. There's also the matter of you insisting that you never withdrew your team's entire funds from the bank, which would lead us to believe that it would be tied into the other events. As with Kangaskhan Storage, the bank also has protocols, one of which requires a signed document for any withdrawal over 500,000 poke. Sableye, do you have such a document in your possession?"

Sableye was in a trance and drooling slightly while staring at the diamond on Aamira's Aura Glass. "Huh? Oh, yes! Of course!" he fumbled with the pouch hung around his neck and pulled out a small scroll that was sealed with a gem-shaped Combee wax seal.

He handed it to Rhyperior, who broke the seal and looked it over before he showed it to Aamira. "Is this your signature?"

Aamira could hardly believe what she was seeing. Though she never used a real "signature" on documents, this was unmistakably her handwriting. "I didn't sign it."

"You're not answering my question." Rhyperior said angrily. "Is this your signature?"

"Yes, but I didn't sign it!" She snapped back at him. "And besides, we have an alibi for where we were after noon!"

Rhyperior growled and handed the scroll back to Sableye. "Then please, do tell."

"Our team headed to the Silverlight Islands with Team Sandstone! You can ask Roy all about it!"

"And we did." Rhyperior said. "After we heard the same from Quill. After a while in an interview, he had to admit that there were times when he and his brother weren't in contact with either of your team's members. Being a senior Investigation Team, it would have been a simple matter to do what you had to, use and Escape Orb to warp back to Ignis, then make your way back to the islands after making the thefts."

"If you're so sure that's what happened, why don't you search the islands?" Aamira asked.

"That's what we're attempting to do, though so far the Rhyhorn are having difficulty in the center dungeon. I'd like to know where they are with absolute certainty before wasting any more resources in trying to recover the stolen items."

"Perhaps you've forgotten, Rhyperior, but it's our job to do very much the same thing you're attempting to do now. I assure you we had no reason to steal anything, since we've stockpiled quite a large amount of items on our own and have no reason to steal in order to get more. Now unless you can come up with a motive for why a respectable Investigation Team such as ours decides to become the thieves who we were trained to catch, I would have to ask you to release us both immediately."

Aamira thought she saw Rhyperior smile slightly, as if he was impressed by how well she was holding up under pressure. For a moment she thought that he might even agree. "I'll return in two hours. If you change your mind by then, I will make sure that your sentencing isn't as severe as it may have been otherwise."

Rhyperior left the room followed by his three witnesses. The door closed behind him, locking from the outside.

Aamira yawned and laid her head on the table. Without Chansey to help with her injuries, she would heal a lot slower than normal, though the Rhyperior had provided both of them with minimal first aid. Either way, her injuries would have no impact either way on how tired she was. Being exhausted from the battle and locked in a dark room, she couldn't help falling asleep, even if it would be for the entire two hours.

Aamira woke up and sat up straight as soon as she heard the lock click. It wasn't Rhyperior, as she expected, but Roy.

"What are you doing here?" Aamira asked, jumping to her feet.

"Not so loud!" Roy said. "Eevee's on his way to the interrogation room where Quill is being kept. We need to get the two of you out of here now!"

"Why? What's going on?" Aamira asked.

"I don't know…" Roy admitted. "I just felt terrible. Watching your battle really cheered me up, then to see you two escorted out of the stadium like that… And to think I couldn't say anything to Rhyperior in order to help at all. On top of that, some of the stolen items were found in your team's room. Since neither of you is going to confess to doing something you didn't do, both of you will be sent to prison for the theft with an accumulated time based on all of the items that weren't recovered yet. All together it would come to around five years."

"Five years?" Aamira said. "But with Honchkrow and everything else, we don't have that much time! How do you know all of this, anyway?"

"I'll explain later, or at least someone will, but we need to get you two out of here first."

Aamira didn't ask anymore questions. She followed Roy and the two of them moved as stealthily as they could. After a few close calls with some guards, they managed to find a storeroom with a small vent that led outside that they were just barely able to squeeze through.

Once outside, they ran towards the north of the island and met up with Quill, Eevee, and Ninetales outside of Smeargle's hut that led to his underground candy factory.

"You're both alright?" Ninetales said. "Thank goodness. I can't believe Charmeleon's plan actually worked."

"So what's going on" Quill asked.

"We know you didn't steal those things." Ninetales said. "Rhyperior is convinced though. Charmeleon led him to believe that Rhyperior had convinced him after telling Charmeleon about the stolen items found in your room. After that, he called together a bunch of people to help you escape."

"Why can't Charmeleon just make him let us go?" Aamira asked.

"It won't look good that way." Ninetales said. "We need the people of Ignis to believe that Charmeleon's a good leader, which he is. If people start to think he let a couple of felons go, they'll start to doubt him and there will be a disturbance among the people of our country. I really wish we could do more, but this is the best we can manage."

"We understand." Quill said. "I don't like this, but I have to admit we can't just sit around while real criminals are still out there somewhere. So what's the plan?"

Ninetales moved the cloth covering the door out of the way. "The rubble blocking the passage to the ocean was cleared by one of Kyogre's tidal waves. This place goes pretty unnoticed. Once the two of you slip in here, Espeon will guide you to Lapras who will ferry you to Chalybs. I'll use my psychic abilities to bend the light rays around here so that this area won't be seen by anyone passing by here and they won't think check for you in here. I have to warn you though; since Espeon and Eevee are relatives and Roy is a friend, it would look suspicious if any of them disappeared when you do. In addition, Lapras can't walk on land very well, so…"

"We're on our own after we get to Chalybs." Aamira finished. "We get it."

Ninetales nodded. "One last thing." She took her diary out of her bag and handed it to Aamira. "I'm loaning this to you. I want it back someday, understand? For now though, I think your needs are greater than mine. Even if you can't translate the rest of your prophecy, it might still come in handy."

"Ninetales…" Aamira could hardly believe that she would delay her quest to find the Vulpine Lord, something that nearly every one of her species undertakes, just so she could help them. "I don't know what to say…"

"How about, 'Goodbye, we're leaving now'?" she offered.

"She's right." Quill said. "We're fugitives now, right? So we can't be sticking around here for too long."

Aamira nodded. She hated this whole situation, but he was right. They were fugitives now. After everything that they had been through, it seemed strange that what they would be charged with out be theft. You'd think they'd be charged for something bigger like the kidnap of some important authority figure from a distant land. But no, someone had to be their undoing with something as ordinary as theft.

Aamira placed the diary in her bag, which they had found along with Quill's in the storeroom, and descended through the trap door into the abandoned candy factory. At the bottom of the ladder, Espeon was waiting for them there as Ninetales had said. The ruby on her head was glowing to provide them with some light. She immediately ran over to the two of them and hugged them so tightly that Aamira flinched from her burns.

"Oh I'm so glad you're both okay!" she said. "I was so worried! That Rhyperior hasn't got an ounce of sense in that thick head of his!"

"I think I'm going to miss nearly getting strangled all the time like this…" Quill managed to say through Espeon's bone crushing hug.

"I'm sorry." Espeon let go of the two of them and took a step back. "I know I shouldn't be acting like this. It's only going to make it harder for the two of you to leave. I really will miss the two of you though…"

Espeon led the way through the factory and to an area they hadn't seen the last time they were there. After a while, Quill said that it felt like it was getting more humid and he said that he could smell saltwater faintly. After a while, Aamira was able to smell it too and hear the sound of water washing up against stone.

Eventually they reached another area that transitioned suddenly into a natural cave. The cave floor was cold and wet. A few Zubat had already made their home here. They were asleep, which mean it was probably morning by now, and they didn't even notice as the three of them walked passed. The entire time, Espeon hadn't said another word.

Finally, Lapras came into sight where the stone cave floor met seawater. It was dark and the water reflected red ripples onto the walls when Espeon got closer with her ruby still shining.

"You made it. Good." Lapras said. "Kingdra had volunteered to do this herself, but I'm more capable when it comes to ferrying people across the ocean. I had made some plans prior to all of this to leave around this time anyway, so it won't look suspicious when they find me gone."

"Thank you, Lapras." Aamira said. "We really appreciate this. And Espeon too. We'll miss you."

Espeon nodded and spoke for the first time since they had met up. "I've gotten tired of working in Pacis. I know it was short lived, but I just don't feel as though I'll be needed there anymore. I really do prefer working in the academy back in Vine City, so I'll be moving back there as soon as I possibly can. Just remember, you two; if things get tough and you don't think you can go on anymore or if you can't find a way to move forward, you'll always have a home in the forest with me and everyone else."

Aamira was facing towards Lapras, not looking at Espeon anymore. Quill thought she was trying to act tough, but it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain right now. He was too, though neither of them would admit it. Aamira nodded and jumped onto Lapras's back. Quill followed after saying goodbye to Espeon one more time. Lapras promised Espeon that she would get them both to Chalybs safely.

Lapras turned and paddled out to sea. They saw that the entire northern part of the ocean near Ignis was covered in mist, no doubt created by Lapras for cover from searching eyes.

They worried about a lot of things as they sailed across the sea in silence. They worried about Espeon, who had seen them off in spite of how sad she was. They worried about the rest of the team and hoped that Glameow would be able to keep Machop in line. They worried about Honchkrow, who could be watching their every movement at this very moment. Above everything, Aamira found herself worrying about Roy. He had just lost his brother to the enemy's side and now she had to leave so suddenly after trying to encourage him.

The two of them took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep while Lapras swam and kept a lookout. After a while, she roused the two of them. They were in a place they didn't recognize. It looked like some sort of hidden bay that someone could only notice from the sea.

"This is as far as I can take you." Lapras said. "We're right on the northwestern edge of Chalybs now. If you go north or east, you can reach some low populated areas. The same if you travel south along the coast, though it's a bit riskier."

"Thank you, Lapras." Aamira said. She was a lot calmer now that she had time for all of this to sink in and some time to calm down.

Lapras nodded and after both of them were on the ground, she dove under the water and disappeared beneath the waves. They looked up at the sheer cliff face in front of them. The only way up was to climb, which wouldn't be fun with Quill's shorter limbs and Aamira's burns. The rocks seemed too hard to dig through, unfortunately.

They managed to find a hidden path up the side, so it didn't cause them as much trouble as they thought it would. After that, they found themselves in a somewhat grassy area that extended to the south and turned into forest to the north and east.

"What now?" Quill asked.

"We disappear." Aamira replied.

Roy hardly had an appetite, though he had had plenty of time to calm down since coming back to Pacis. The café in the Brigade's building was just as relaxing as ever. He couldn't help worrying about his brother and the leaders of Team Sleuth though.

What had caused his worry this time was the newspaper. His had just been delivered by the Delibird. There was a story about them on the third page where they were presumed to be dead after their trail was traced to a sheer cliff. A story like this appeared every once in a while, so Roy wasn't too worried about it. Some said they had been kidnapped by Bounty Hunters or that they themselves had become Bounty Hunters. There were so many mixed opinions on those two now and just as many stories that it was impossible to tell what was true and what wasn't.

The story wasn't what had caused his worry though; it was the date of the story.

Weavile sat down next to Roy. "It's hard to believe, isn't it? Not a believable word of them and they've been gone for seven months today."