The last team to intrude upon this forest was named Team Fluff, a new team from Pacis that had gotten in way over their heads with this mission. As much as Cleffa and Igglybuff had begged to go home, their leader, Skitty, pushed the team onward. Of course, they were no match for the pokemon in this area and they had to rely on their items in order to get away every time they encountered an enemy.
"How are we doing, Cleffa?" Skitty asked.
"Not so good, Captain." Cleffa replied. "We're nearly out of Pure seeds and we've already used up all of the Petrify and Warp Orbs."
"Can't we just go home?" Igglybuff asked. "It's dark here and there are a lot of strong pokemon. Why don't we just call it a day?"
"Come on, guys!" Skitty shouted. "We must be nearly at the end by now! I guarantee there will be some sort of amazing treasure hidden in a dungeon like this!"
Cleffa mumbled something about Skitty having said they were nearly there over half an hour ago, but Igglybuff shot him a warning glace to keep quiet. They both knew how their Captain could get at times. All she really cared about was treasure. They never went on any rescue or escort missions or even outlaw missions. And she wondered why they were still normal rank after five months of being a team.
"I can almost smell that treasure!" Skitty shouted.
"All I can smell is something burning." Cleffa said.
Igglybuff sniffed at the air. "Hey, I think you're right. I hope there's not a forest fire up ahead."
"That would complicate things…" Skitty admitted. "Let's go check it out!"
Cleffa and Igglybuff sighed as their fearless captain ran off ahead of them. They had formed an Investigation Team for the promise of adventure, but they hadn't imagined it being so hard. They realized a while ago that it was all just a child's game that they had been playing and that if they wanted to become a real team they had to start with the basics. Skitty, on the other hand, was still living in a fantasy world where she was the world's greatest Investigator. She even gave every one of their missions some sort of fancy title.
This one if they remembered correctly, which they usually didn't, was called "The-Caper-of-the-Forest-that's-Sometimes-Hot-and-Sometimes-Cold-With-All-of-the-Changing-Flowers-and-Leaves-and-Stuff-that-Most-Likely-Has-Some-Super-Incredible-Amazing-Treasure-Hidden-at-the-End-of-It!" They had asked why it hadn't just been called "The Search for the Treasure of Seasonal Woods" and why they always had to have an exclamation point at the end. Skitty said that her title was both more exciting, accurate, descriptive, and correct on punctuation than their were.
"But since when do titles have punctuation at the end?" Igglybuff asked.
"Since I decided to correct all of the people who do it wrong!" Skitty said proudly. "Besides, you forgot the 'caper' part of it. Your title doesn't even emphasize the fact that there's some sort of monster at the end of this dungeon."
"Probably because we're hoping it's not true…" Cleffa said.
After a bit more arguing, which Skitty didn't even realize was arguing, the three of them continued on their way. As they walked, the scent of something burning started to increase. It got warmer and the air shimmered from the heat.
They finally reached a dead end in what seemed to be the darkest, farthest, point of the dungeon. The fact that they had been able to make it this far was quite the accomplishment for them. And yet, they saw no fire. The air in front of them shimmered and they only noticed that there was someone or something there when they took a step forward.
The three of them stepped back nervously, Including Skitty who hid behind Cleffa. The figure looked like some sort of shimmering black ghost. No doubt it was this ghost that had caused the temperature change.
"Who… Who are you!" Skitty demanded.
The ghost took another step towards them. "I am the ghost of the great witch Ingra, the witch of fire. Many years ago I was murdered by my husband in this very area. I swore to protect the secrets of my witch sisters even after death and so I shall. If you've come to claim the treasure that is my power, then leave at once or I'll turn the three of you into small piles of ash."
"P-Prove it!" Skitty stammered.
"Skitty!" Both of her teammates shouted.
The ghost stared at them for a moment, then turned her head to their left where a bush suddenly burst into flames.
The three of them screamed and ran for the dungeon entrance. The ghost of Ingra waited for a few minutes to make sure they were gone before taking off the cloak.
"Geez, this thing is warm enough, but with your fire it's almost unbearable!" Aamira complained.
"It was still pretty believable." Quill said as she burrowed his way out of the ground. "You're movements were all sluggish because of it. It looked a lot more ghostly that way."
Aamira laughed. "Yea, those kids were completely convinced. Nice job on the fire trap on the bush, by the way. You've gotten even faster at digging them."
"We didn't have much warning this time…" Quill admitted. "With all of the dungeon pokemon starting their hibernation, it was harder to tell when someone showed up here."
"Well we should head back home and let Exeggcute know that we chased them off." Aamira folded up the cloak and put it back in her bag. The two of them moved the tree branches at the back of the clearing that blocked the path into the true depth of the dungeon. They walked through to the other side and covered up the path again, making sure it was impossible to tell it was there from the other side.
In the deepest part of the dungeon was a large, partially hollow tree with an entrance at the base of the roots. Exeggcute was already inside finishing up making their lunch by the time they returned.
"That's good work, you two!" He said. "Tell me you at least stole their money before you chased them off."
"We're not thieves, you know." Quill took a bite of one of the fruits Exeggcute had foraged for in the forest. "We chase them off so they live you in peace, and you don't tell anyone where we are. That's the deal."
"Won't be for long unless you pay for the migratory months. I want that money before I leave." He grumbled irritably.
"Relax, we're good for it." Aamira took some coins out of her money bag and tossed it to Exeggcute as she started with her own lunch.
Exeggcute shifted through the money and nodded with approval. "Well done. Five thousand as promised. One thousand per month. How'd you do it?"
"We made a list of known Bounty Hunters and we spend our time tracking them down when we're not acting as your watch dogs. It's turning them in for the reward that's the tough part. We're constantly needing to leave them in different areas to keep anyone from figuring out where we are."
"We leave them tied up and then someone leaves the money for their ransom." Aamira added. "We can't risk being seen, but I think that they probably realize it's us that's doing it. They're probably finding our footprints in the area where we leave them by using Aura Glasses."
"And they don't rat on you for some reason?" Exeggcute asked. "I have no idea who you two are, but you're obviously liked well enough. Why are you on the run then?"
"That's our business, isn't it?" Aamira asked. "Anyway, your migration thing starts today, doesn't it? You and the other Exeggcute are heading down south to Pacis to evolve, right? It's going to be strange not having you griping at us ever few minutes for a full five months."
"You promise not to tell anyone we're here while you're gone, right?" Quill said.
"Sure kiddo. I wouldn't want to lose my privacy. You two I can deal with since you're away most of the day anyway. Those Investigation Teams that come running through here on missions every other day though are a little annoying. Ever since the rumor of a monster started, hardly anyone ever comes through here. I'd prefer it stay that way."
"Right, so we paid you for the five months you won't need us to keep anyone else away. When will you be leaving?"
"Five minutes." He said. "I've stocked up on food and there's no reason to stick around when the weather's about to turn cold. You know the drill; keep fire away from the tree roots, don't let strangers into the clearing, and defend the territory from the dungeon pokemon. I've never stayed around here in the winter, so I don't know how protected this little den is from the cold. Feel free to alter it to keep the warmth in. Could be I'd like to stay here one year and I could use a bit of warmth, being a grass type."
"You've got it, boss." Aamira said. "Any particular alterations you might want?"
"Not sure…" he said. "I know you two don't like sleeping in the branches all the time and it does get crowded in here when it rains. A second room might be nice, if you can figure out how to do it."
"We'll think of something." Quill said. "Have fun down south with your Exeggcute buddies."
Exeggcute nodded. "Right then; I'll leave you to it. I don't want to see this place in shambles when I come back, got it? Well, I'll be off then."
Exeggcute walked out through the gap in the roots and for the first time in the last six months, they were completely alone again. They almost looked forward to the next couple of kids coming through there on a dare.
They had learned by now that Exeggcute's predictions about the weather were always right. If they were going to make this hollow tree warm for the winter, they would have to start immediately.
"So we've already got a good store of food hidden in the forest." Aamira said. "Maybe we should make two extra rooms. One for a bedroom to increase the living space and the other to store food in."
Quill nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. And what about fire? Exeggcute said to keep fire away from the roots, so we've never lit one in here before, but I bet if I dig down a little I can make a fire pit so that the flames won't get close."
"That's a good idea. Just in case, we should put it out before going to bed every night. And of course we would have to do something about the entrance. Maybe cover it up with a piece of bark and some branches. We'll have to be creative about it through since we would have to make it look realistic from the outside but we'd have to close it from the inside. Maybe we could devise some sort of pulley system…"
Quill went to work with digging out the floor and making a fire pit in the center. Aamira headed out to gather all of their food up from their hiding place. The hiding place was a good idea considering that Exeggcute was somewhat of a glutton. Even so, they had to hide the food so far away that it was somewhat of a pain going to find it again and carry all of it back. It took her two trips to move it all back and she found a few more fruits that hadn't fallen yet along the way.
By the time Aamira was done moving all of the food back, the extended floor in the main room was finished, the fire pit was dug out, and Quill had already started working on the second room. Aamira decided to go looking for more food. It was better to have too much than too little. By the time she returned, the storage room was dug out and all of the food she already brought back was inside already.
"I just realized." She said. "What about water?"
"We could just melt snow with my fire." Quill said. "It would be hard to collect it all though."
"What if we made a third room outlined with that huge log that's near the waterfall? We can make a sliding panel out of bark and open it whenever we need water to let the snow in. And maybe we could make some sort of bowl or something suspended at the bottom to heat it up and melt it in."
"That's great, but what could we use for the bowl? We can't make it out of branches and tree bark or it would burn."
"I could carve one out of the stone around the waterfall. It would be easy with a weaker force palm to make a bowl-like indent."
"Alright. I'll start on the second room while you bring that log back. The bowl shouldn't take as much time, so maybe we should find some bark for the doors and the sliding panel before then."
"Sounds good to me."
Aamira left for the waterfall and lifted the huge log on her back. She had carried boulders heavier than this before, but she was exhausted by the time she brought it back to the tree. Quill had the bedroom done by then and helped to burn off the moss and fungus that was growing on the log. They put it into position where they wanted the other room to be and Quill used the log as a frame to dig down under the ground. They slid the log into place and Aamira broke a hole in the side of it with Force Palm to make an entrance back into the main room. Quill dug out a small pit in the ground where the bowl would go and set up something like his fire trap where he could use Flamethrower to heat it up.
They gathered some pieces of bark and some sticks from the forest and dug out some grooves to make a sliding door on the inside of the room and did a similar thing with the doors to the other rooms. Aamira cut out a groove in the log to make a sliding panel to open and close it. To keep any pokemon from falling into the log and possibly finding their hiding place, they covered the top with thin branches to make a grate big enough for the snow to fall through but too small for a pokemon to fall through.
The only thing they had to do after that was gather some leaves and branches for firewood and some of the bamboo growing in the surrounding area to use as a material to make a bed. Instead of making separate rooms for these, Quill dug out a small space near the ramp that led to the door and a similar one in the bedroom for the bamboo and fire making materials.
Aamira returned to the waterfall and used Force Palm on a good sized rock that she found to make a bowl. She had been worried she would have to carve it out of the cliff face, which would have been difficult, but luckily that rock had been there. While she was there she carved another stone into a flat slab that they could place over the fire in case they wanted to cook some of the fruits for a change of pace. She picked up a few smaller stones to line the fire pit too as an extra precaution to keep the tree from going up in flames.
As it turned out, the four larger rocks she found when evenly spaced around the fire pit made the perfect place to put the stone slab while leaving some gaps to prevent the oxygen from being cut off from the fire. In fact, with the stone slab over top of it, there was no danger to the tree if they kept it there all the time, sort of like the grating on a fireplace.
After that they couldn't think of anything else to do. The hollow tree had become quite cozy already. Aamira found a few tree stumps out in the forest that she broke off from the roots to use to make a table and chairs and their bed had been set up in the other room. At this point they were satisfied they could do no more.
"Maybe we should make a garden in the spring using the leftover berries." Aamira suggested. "That way we'll always have enough food."
"Provided we stay here long enough for them to grow." Quill said. "You never know; some Investigation Team might show up here without being afraid of the ghost and we'll have to run off again."
"The first place we found only lasted about a month. This one has lasted us half a year now. It feels like our time is running short, even if hardly anyone ever comes into the forest anymore."
"I snatched a newspaper that someone threw away from that village outside of the forest when no one was around. It looks like there's a story going around that we went over a cliff when running from an Investigation Team."
"Either someone trying to help us out or someone just trying to sound impressive by saying they had cornered the infamous leaders of Team Sleuth, no doubt. There are rumors like this all the time nowadays. It's kind of strange reading all of the stories like this. Either way, it's not going to keep people off of our trail for long. I assume there's nothing about Honchkrow?"
Quill shook his head. "Entei vanished shortly after we ran and we found out later that Suicune had vanished shortly before Altaria left for Ignis. Honchkrow probably has something to do with this, but we haven't even seen a single Murkrow wandering around since we ran off."
"I'm beginning to think they probably had something to do with framing us. We'll figure it out eventually. For now we should get some sleep."
The next morning, there was about two inches of snow on the ground. The first thing they did was test the snow catcher they had made from the log, which worked perfectly to make water. After that they piled some snow around the entrance. They realized they would have to be more careful about their footprints now, so they decided after they were done making the snowdrift look as real as possible that they wouldn't go outside unless it was absolutely necessary.
The first day wasn't so bad, but after a couple of days they started to get bored. Sometimes they would discuss theories about who might have framed them or what Honchkrow was doing. Every now and then Quill would go into town to get a newspaper since his paw prints were smaller and less noticeable. There was never anything interesting.
They realized one day that they had completely forgotten both of their birthdays. Quill's birthday was during the two months when Aamira had vanished before, so she hadn't thought about it until then. His would have been shortly after they had become fugitives. Aamira's unofficial birthday had only been a few weeks ago, maybe a month at the most, along with their team's second anniversary. Though Aamira had never known how old she was since losing her memory, she found out that Quill had just turned twelve. She didn't know how old this was to a pokemon.
One night the two of them were huddled together next to the fire pit in the main room. There was a raging blizzard outside that was rocking the whole tree. It was impossible to sleep when it sounded like the tree would be knocked over at any moment. By this time, nearly another month had gone by so they had been staying in this area for nearly eight months.
The two of them were sitting back to back trying their resonation by using the Lucky Chant cards that Espeon had helped Aamira win back in the spring. Though they were most likely hundreds of years away from being able to speak telepathically, they were getting to the point where they could read various emotions almost as words. One of them would look at a card and the other one, sitting in a position where they couldn't see it, would have to say what it is by using resonation to tell what the other person was seeing.
It was Quill's turn holding the cards. The noise of the blizzard made it harder to concentrate and made for great practice. Aamira was trying to read Quill's emotions, but they felt off suddenly.
"What is it?" she asked.
Quill shook his head. "No, probably nothing. I thought for a second that I heard something, but it was probably just the wind."
"Yea, probably." Aamira was trying to concentrate. She almost got a sense of what the card was. It was either the sun or the moon, but since Quill saw a similarity between them, it became harder to tell anything past that from his emotions. Then the weird spike in his emotions happened again. "Are you sure you're not hearing anything?"
"Hmm… I don't know now…" Quill said.
The two of them stood up and walked to the door.
"…epl…" This time Aamira could faintly here it too. "Pleas… meone… help!"
"Someone's shouting." Quill said. "What should we do?"
"Well I know we're supposed to be on the run, but we can't just leave them out here in this storm." Aamira lifted up the door, which was almost entirely covered in snow on the outside.
Quill used his Flamethrower to melt a path for them to walk through. They wandered around through the blizzard until they heard the voice again. Aamira shouted in return in the hope that they would hear her.
"Who's there!" they shouted back. "Please, we need help!"
"Stay where you are!" Quill shouted back. "Keep talking and we'll find you!"
Eventually they found who it was that was wandering around through the snow. It was a certain Delibird who was carrying a familiar, unconscious Riolu on his back.
"Delibird! Roy!" Aamira shouted. "Are you two alright? What happened?"
"Roy came here on a mission to knock out the ghost that lives in this forest." Delibird said. "I was passing through trying to find you two, actually, when we met up. I tried to get him to give up the mission since a blizzard was on the way, but when he wouldn't listen I decided to follow at a distance just in case."
"He looks like he's nearly frozen to death." Quill said. "Quick, let's carry him back to the tree to warm up."
When they got back, Aamira made up a bed near the fire with some of the bamboo stored in there room and Quill added some more firewood to make the fire stronger. They laid Roy on the bamboo bed, wrapped him in Aamira's cloak, and got some berries from their storage. Luckily they had some Aspear Berries that would help him warm up some more when he woke up.
"What luck, running into you two." Delibird said. "You know, I never did get the chance to thank you when you gave me that Phione Dew for my mom."
"Don't mention it." Aamira said. "Roy should be fine now, buy why was it that you were trying to find us?"
"Oh right!" Delibird said. "I have a special delivery for you!"
He emptied the stack of letters that he had wrapped in his tail. They had never seen so many at one time before.
"What is all of this…?" Quill asked.
"Well I wanted to repay you somehow for what you did for me even though I messed up before." Delibird said. "No one knew where you were, so I thought that I'd deliver a bunch of letters from anyone who knew you personally and a few of your admirers. It took a long time to gather all of these letters from all over the place, but I managed it. Nearly got caught a few times. Rhyperior's turned even more bitter since you escaped and he figured I would know where you were if I was delivering letters."
"So he's been chasing you." Aamira said.
Delibird nodded. "I managed though. It took about four months to gather all of these letters. I've been looking for you for the rest of the time up until then. People started to think it was crazy by trying to find you. At some point rumors about the two of you dying started floating around, varying from place to place. People have all but given up searching for you, but I kept trying. After a while, no one thought anything of it. The reward for you capture still goes up every month, but no one thinks they'll be able to find you, except of course for the ones who sent the letters."
"These letters have been waiting for months for us to read them." Quill said. "They shouldn't have to wait any longer."
Aamira picked up a letter off of the pile at random. It was from Beautifly. "Dear Team Sleuth. I can't believe how well you've done with hiding for this long. I'm sure you'll be okay and that you'll find out who framed you soon. Our last play just recently went on tour. It's about a fugitive who was framed for a theft running from the police and meeting up with a kid who eventually makes him reconsider his choices. The fugitive eventually decides to continue his search for the real thief and when they find him, he and the kid form an Investigation Team. I bet you can't guess what we based it off of. Unlike the thief in our story though, I know you won't give up looking until the real thieves are caught. By the way, Wurmple would have written a letter too, but he's a little distraught right now. He just evolved into Cascoon and he's a little disappointed about it. He told me to say hi for him regardless."
Quill picked up a letter that he found to be from Vileplume. "Hello, Team Sleuth. I can't imagine what you two are going through now. Oddish wanted to write a letter, but obviously writing is somewhat difficult for him. Sometime after you two disappeared, he decided to join the academy and has been doing well in his classes so far. Sales are up this month, now that things have calmed down around here. There were a few… minor damages done to some furniture, so I guess the sales are reasonable. I've made some custom furniture for the two of you if you ever decide to come back to Sylva. You'll still have to pay, of course. Perhaps I could still knock the price down if the sales continue to do well. Whether you return or not, I wish you luck and may many mounds of money await you in your future."
"She's a little odd…" Aamira admitted as she picked up the next letter. This one seemed strange at first, since it was written entirely in crayon and was barely legible. It was from Treecko and Manaphy. "Delibird ended up here by accident and Manaphy wanted to write a letter to you, though she's not too good with writing English since she's mainly had to write in a text known only to ancient pokemon that live in the ocean. She wants you to know that she's been keeping the Phione in line and has reestablished a connection with Aequorean cities and will soon make contact with people from the mainland. A peace treaty with the Relicanth was offered and so far things are going well. I was skeptical when I first met her, but Manaphy turned out to be a good monarch already. Since the barrier was broken by Honchkrow, the temple hasn't submerged back underwater and has just been floating randomly on the surface. We've both been doing well in these conditions. There's something you should probably know though. A while back, some old guy with a cane showed up here. He kind of looked like a similar species to a Riolu, but I forget what your evolved form is called. He asked me a bunch of weird questions and at the end of it said I was something called an Aura Guardian. Weird, huh? Well apparently there are a bunch of cool abilities that come with it like increased power of certain advanced attacks, which explains my Energy Ball, and some enhanced senses. I'm not sure if you two would know anything about this, but I thought you might find it interesting. Well hopefully when we get a good relation with land-based nations we'll be able to visit. It's strange knowing this now; I had made a resolve when you left that I would stay at sea and protect Manaphy and the temple, so it seems strange knowing we'll be going back soon. Anyway, hopefully we'll see you soon."
They figured that the old guy he mentioned was probably Ruko. It did match his description, though they wondered why he was in the Sea Temple. Treecko being an Aura Guardian suddenly made perfect sense. It explained so much about what had happened back at the Sea Temple when they last saw him. For Quill, it was reassuring to know he wasn't the only one, though he hoped Treecko and Manaphy wouldn't be drawn into this legend somehow because of it. Either way, it was nice to hear they were doing well, at least at the time the letter was written.
Quill picked up another letter. "This one's from… Shedinja?" Quill and Shedinja didn't get along well, so he was somewhat nervous about opening it. "Hello, delinquents. Thank goodness you were in Ignis when you decided to finally snap. Of course I'm joking. Even if one of you is an arsonist, I know you would never sink as low as thievery. Quill, when you get back, you're still banned from the museum, I'll have you know."
Aamira laughed. "I guess that's his way of wishing us luck." She picked up another letter. "This one's from Gabite! Hey guys, it's been a while. Well you won't believe it! We got a glimpse of it this time around! It was really beautiful. The glass shone in the sun and left specks of rainbows on all of the sand. Well, at least from what we saw of the tail as it retreated into the ground. The sand closed up immediately after so we couldn't follow it, but we were so close, I just know that the next time we see it will be before it has the chance to run. The boss is still as tough as ever. I seriously don't understand that guy at all. We get messages from Infernape sometimes too. We help out sometimes whenever she tracks down large groups of bandits."
Quill held up another letter. "This one's from Infernape! Dear Aamira and Quill. Things are going well here. Not counting help I've gotten from Team Sirocco, I've managed to capture twenty three bandits from the time we last met to the time I'm writing this. Things are going well. Quite a few of them have some sort of relationship with Bounty Hunter teams in your area. I've compiled a list of names of the more infamous ones and the locations of their secret bases. I'm sure you'll want to track them down. Things seemed to have calmed down in Ignis from what I hear from Charmeleon. I still keep in contact with him and Typhlosion.
"Sure enough, this one's from Charmeleon." Aamira picked up the letter. "It's been a while. It's Charmeleon. Or possibly Charizard, depending on whether or not you get this letter before the summer solstice. It doesn't seem right not seeing you two around. Of course, I'm not around the Investigators Brigade main building much anymore. Ninetales wanted to send a letter, but she's been researching constantly since the two of you left. I think she's been trying to find the one who framed you on the side, though she mentioned once that she was looking for a specific someone. You two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? Anyway, Typhlosion's taking it pretty hard. He really liked you two and Rhyperior even tried to get him to help with the investigation once."
Quill's hands shook when he picked up Typhlosion's letter. Quill had trouble acknowledging that Typhlosion was his father at times, since they worked together on more than one occasion and Typhlosion was in the hall of fame. "Dear Team Sleuth. Things have gotten eerily quiet since you've left. On multiple occasions I've considered reforming an Investigation Team, but I couldn't find any teammates who I could work well with. I've decided to be a freelance Investigator working apart from a team. Every now and then I work with Ninetales's team when she has free time. I think there's a good chance we can find who framed you. I know I've never been the best at saying it before, it's even more awkward now that I can see my own words laid out in front of me, but I really do see you two as my son and daughter. I really am worrying for you more than any close friend ever could. Espeon feels the same way. She didn't need to tell me for me to know this. She made plans to move back to Sylva after you two left, but at the time I'm writing this she hasn't left yet. I wouldn't exactly call it a complication, nothing of the sort, but I suppose I'll let her explain that. So until we see each other again, just know I'm doing all I can to back you two up every step of the way and I know that you'll always make the right choices."
"It really is a little awkward reading our… our dad's… words of encouragement like this, isn't it?" Aamira said.
"I wonder what he meant about Espeon's reason for staying in Ignis?" Quill asked.
Aamira was already digging through the letters. Of course, Espeon's had to be near the bottom. Delibird told them it was one of the first he collected. Aamira opened the letter and almost immediately squealed so loud that she had to cover her mouth with her paw to keep from waking up Roy.
"What is it?" Quill asked.
"Well…" Aamira said with a sly smile. "Uh… would you rather have a younger brother or sister?"
Quill ran towards Aamira and grabbed the letter out of her hand. He read through the first part a few times, unable to believe it. "An egg… Just appeared overnight, just like that… I can't believe we're going to have a younger sibling! I think having a younger sister might be fun. She might act something like you! Maybe we'll learn how you used to act when you were younger too."
Aamira rolled her eyes. "Or maybe another little brother. I wouldn't mind that. I'm sure he'd be every bit as brave as you never were." Aamira took the letter back and picked up reading where they both left off. "I've bought a new house in Sylva and will be moving there in three days, thanks to Grovyle offering to ferry me to Chalybs for free. My last one near the school was already sold to a young Marshtomp couple who moved to Sylva recently. I'll be needing some extra space anyway in the future. Only instead of getting a house with two bedrooms, I got one with three. The third, of course, would be for the two of you. I'm sure you'll want to return to the Investigator's Brigade after all of this blows over, but as I said before, you'll always have a home in the forest if things get too tough. Your room is on the top floor. I know Aamira likes heights. A lot of the furniture will be brought from Ignis, so it will mostly be flameproof too. Probably a good thing. I know Quill hasn't had trouble with his fire since you two met, but judging by the markings on the egg, this one will be another Cyndaquil. I'll have to get used to the smell of burning whiskers again. Quill, I'm sure you don't remember that. Anyway, I'll expect to see you two the very SECOND your names are cleared and no later! I'll always support you two no matter what you have to do. Even so, please try not to do anything reckless."
Quill was trying to hide tears again. It wasn't the first time since they ran away. Aamira was sad too, but she stopped crying a long time ago. Maybe she had gotten used to this way of living, or maybe she just wanted to stay strong for Quill's sake. Whatever the reason, she had never felt so homesick before in her life. That she was sure of even with her amnesia.
Roy coughed and tried to sit up, but Delibird forced him to lay back down. "Calm down, you nearly froze to death. You need to rest a little longer."
Roy shivered and pulled the cloak tighter around him. "I'm sorry I didn't listen… I never took anyone's advice after Sandshrew ran away… Still, I never expected Team Sleuth to be hiding here. I guess I found the ghost after all…"
"So what have you been up to?" Aamira asked.
He shrugged. "The normal thing, I guess. Investigations every day, expanding my team. It's been strange without you two around."
Roy seemed so serious now that it was almost scary. He was nothing like the kid Aamira had first met in Divum. He was much more experience now. The four of them stayed up through the blizzard talking about things that had been going on since they left. Even by swiping newspapers every now and then, they weren't able to keep up with the goings on. A lot had happened since they left. Pikachu took over Tempestas while still maintaining his team and reformed their educational system based on Luxray's recommendations. Luxray's team had been promoted up to the Gold Rank since they had last met.
Apparently Metang's team from Chalybs had become quite respectable and were one of the favorites to win the next tournament. Aron from their own team had evolved into Lairon and had started to work more often with Shuppet. The two of them apparently made a good team. Mamoswine's recovery from the Aura Sphere took longer than expected, but now his team was doing pretty well. Kingdra had become a well respected leader of Aequor. Slowking managed to escape with the help of some of his cronies and was now on the run himself.
Flygon found something interesting on a trip back home to Silex. Dragonite joined him there and they found an ancient buried city. This immediately brought up stories of the subterranean city that the Crystal Onix was said to guard and was currently under investigation. Dragonite added when he met with Roy to tell them "you're welcome" for giving them Aura Glasses with the tracking devices missing. They had entirely forgotten about that up until then.
The biggest change was Togekiss temporarily taking Altaria's place as Divum's leader. Just when she thought that she and her family could live a normal life, she was chosen. Apparently she was trying to make a way for Investigation Teams to access the Sky Plane without flying type members. For now they had to rely on Divum Investigation Teams to take them through the cloud barriers. The Sky Plane's existence was no secret now, so it only seemed right. Apparently Rayquaza landed at the tower once a month, but never for very long. A few teams went to challenge him, but all were defeated. Kyogre and Groudon were still seen from time to time, but not as often anymore and never at the same time.
"What's been going on in Sylva?" Quill asked.
"I'm not entirely sure." Roy said. By this time the storm had calmed and he was warmed up again. "Team Overgrow and Sky were called back to help with something and after a month they didn't return. Two months and we started worrying. I decided to go check it out and decided to stop to take a mission or two when my stock of items started to run low. Then I met you two."
They were all quiet for a while, in a way that was almost unsettling. Aamira thought about the tribe that Dragonite mentioned that lived deep in the forest. Maybe the dispute hadn't ended after all.
"We're going." Aamira said, saying almost exactly what Quill was thinking. "It's been nearly a year now and we haven't found any leads to Honchkrow or his boss. All of our friends in Vine City could be in trouble for all we know. If we can't find Honchkrow or the ones who framed us, the least we could do is help Sylva."
"Do you think you can hold these letters for us?" Quill asked Delibird. "That way no one will now that you found us and we can finish reading the rest later."
Delibird nodded and scooped up the letters in his tail. "Will do. If you two go into hiding again, I swear I'll find you quicker this time."
In the morning they were ready to leave for Sylva. Quill had to clear out the snow from the entrance before they could even leave. Roy and Delibird were both impressed with the work they had done with the hollow tree.
They didn't know the eastern part of their forest as they tended to stay more to the west and south, but luckily this was part of the same forest where Roy's foster mother lived, so he knew the area well. After a while, the weather gradually grew warmer and the amount of snow decreased. They turned south once they exited the forest and soon the snow vanished all together.
They entered the edge of the mountain range and seemed to get turned around about halfway through. Roy seemed to be getting more jumpy by the second. It didn't seem like he was used to getting lost at this point in his career. At least, that's what they initially thought before they found themselves at a dead end. Up until then, Aamira hadn't sensed their aura at all.
"I'm really sorry for this." Roy said. "But they promised me a lead on where my brother was if I led you two out of hiding."
Rhyperior walked up behind them, taking up a good portion of the only way out of the valley. The ground shook and his Rhyhorn dug up out of the ground around them. They were surrounded.
"That's good work." Rhyperior said. "And I will give you a lead once we get one."
"What?" Roy shouted. "You made me assume you already had a lead!"
"You assumed." Rhyperior said. "I never said I had a lead. If you know better, you'll stand aside and let this capture proceed normally. If you fight the police, you become an outlaw too."
Roy growled at them, hardly able to believe some agent of justice would con him like that.
"I understand your reason for doing this." Aamira said. "Just a minor inconvenience, if you think of it that way. We'll just knock these guys out and continue on our way."
"It's strange, but when we first became fugitives we agreed not to run if we got cornered!" Quill said. "But we've been hearing all sorts of things about Rhyperior in the paper. No way am I getting caught by his team."
Roy hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to be a fugitive, but he had to agree that Rhyperior had become more of a con artist than a police chief lately. He had been so blinded by the idea of finding his younger brother that he never stopped to consider that he was being conned too. "Alright, I'm with you."
