Author's Note: More Dusknoir stuff; I figured it'd be nice to work out exactly how he came to work for Dialga. And, hey, Missy's POV! That's a new thing!


A New Home

Missy wasn't sure exactly how long it was since her mother died that the Sableye approached her father, but she thought it had been a little while.

She'd seen packs of Sableye every now and then. They really were easy to spot. Still, she'd never seen them so close before, and Missy listened intently to the conversation. She floated behind a tree nearby, just far enough away that her father wouldn't notice her eavesdropping, but close enough that she could hear them.

"Hey, uh…you look pretty strong, wheh-heh," one of the Sableye commented as he looked over the larger ghost.

Dusknoir paused for a long while before quietly replying, "I'm not very strong at all. Do you want something?"

"Well, uh…" The first Sableye glanced at one of his companions, awkwardly scratching his neck before looking back at Dusknoir. "Our last boss got…fired, wheh-heh. So her boss wants us to look for a new one. See?"

"This has nothing to do with me."

"Wheh…I guess not." Another Sableye shrugged. "Too bad. Master Dialga's gonna be mad at us again, wheh-heh…"

A third one sighed. "Yeah…well, you know, if you know anyone who wants to help…can you tell them about us? Wheh-heh-heh…"

Dusknoir shrugged. "I suppose so."

The first Sableye hung his head before turning around. "Right. Thanks, I guess…wheh… Man, right when I thought we found someone good enough…"

Dusknoir watched them go, but then he suddenly halted them. "Wait. Perhaps…if you could tell me more, then…?"

Missy blinked. Why the change of heart? She was curious, too. The Sableye had been incredibly vague; she was surprised they'd expected anyone to help based on that information. Besides, her father hadn't shown interest in much of anything ever since they'd lost her mother.

"Wheh?" One of the Sableye shrugged. "Okay, uh…Master Dialga says we're keeping him safe. And keeping the world safe, too."

Dusknoir's eye narrowed at the latter comment. "Well, you're not doing a very good job of that."

"Eek…hey…you don't gotta be so rude about it, wheh-heh," one of them grumbled. "Master Dialga says thing would get even worse if anything happened to him, you know…"

"…What does that mean?"

Sableye shrugged. "We're not completely sure, but…he says if things change…everybody's gonna be in even more danger. So we gotta make sure that nobody hurts him. Wheh-heh."

Dusknoir paused again, apparently considering this information. Missy wondered what they meant by that, too. Surely things couldn't get worse than they already were, right? That Metang had killed her mother simply for getting too close to him, after all. What could be worse than Pokémon doing things like that?

But if it was true, she didn't want to think about what this 'even worse' thing could be. The only way to find out would be to ask this 'Master Dialga' Pokémon, though. If the Sableye didn't know all of the details, they'd have to hear it directly from him.

Finally, Dusknoir replied, "I…guess it's worth looking into… If we're doing what's best in the long run, I'd like to find out more."

Well, he had spoken of 'protecting her' more and more often lately. Missy supposed it made sense that he'd want to do something he thought was helpful… Charging in on this little information could be risky, though. But…if he really was desperate enough…

"Missy?" he called, and she dutifully floated over to him. Dusknoir smiled and reached out for her as he went on, "Would you like to have something to do? We may have somewhere new to go. Will you come with me and find out?"

Like she could really say no to that. What exactly was she supposed to do by herself otherwise? Missy just nodded quietly in response. Then, Dusknoir turned back to the group of Sableye.

"All right. I suppose I can meet with your Master Dialga, then. You're…sure we'll be helping everyone if we do this?"

"Yeah, wheh-heh! That's the part we're sure on," one of them replied. "Master Dialga says that all the time. Well…sort of…he's kinda hard to understand sometimes. But we know that's what he means!"

Dusknoir nodded. "Shall we go, then? I'd like to learn more as soon as I can."

The Sableye cheered and started leading them in the right direction. Missy trailed along slightly behind Dusknoir, carefully watching him. She knew he'd been desperate for something to do; he'd spoken occasionally of some kind of longing that she didn't entirely understand. It was something he'd never quite been able to articulate, but it was a feeling he needed to satisfy nonetheless.

Missy could only hope that this claim of being 'helpful' was an accurate one. She glanced at her father again and frowned. His desperate desire to keep her safe was genuine, she knew. If that extended to this 'Master Dialga' Pokémon as well…how much further would he push it?

Deep down, Missy really didn't want to leave Dusknoir behind; he was all she had left. And she really did hope that whatever this was would make him happy.

Still, she couldn't help an odd nagging feeling about the whole situation, like everything was about to change drastically. How, she wasn't sure, but Missy could only hope that it wasn't going to be for the worse.