"This is really thorough," Ethan thought out loud as he looked at the journal page for the Misty Forest. "When did we fight a Caterpie? What type of Pokémon is that?"

"It was during one of my trips through the forest on my own," Fennekin explained. "I told you I had a good memory for explorations!"

"I like it," he replied as he closed the book, fastening it to the toolbox with a strap. "You really seem to have this exploring thing down."

Almost instantly, Fennekin turned her head away from him, face turning as red as the hair in her ears as she did so. "No, I'm still really new. I've just read a lot of stories about famous explorers and was really excited to become one myself. But don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Don't tell anyone what?" Gloom asked from behind them. Why Gloom wasn't in the lead, Ethan wasn't sure; either he wanted to give them the experience of having to find a dungeon, or he was too nervous to be in charge. It was one of those. Or both.

"It's nothing!" Fennekin nervously laughed.

"It's a good question," Ethan pointed out. "Why not? You've done your research, that should be a good thing, right? You'll have a better idea of what to expect."

"I guess," she sighed, voice quieter than before. "I don't know. Where I grew up, Pokémon don't really...go become explorers. Everyone I knew thought it was stupid that I wanted to be one. They'd all rather stay put and keep doing what they're doing than go out and get other Pokémon out of danger! Sometimes I wonder if this is really going to have an impact on anything…"

What came next wasn't quite silence, but more...stillness. How was he supposed to respond to something like that? Without even really thinking, he reached out and patted her on the shoulder a few times. "Thank you," she spoke, barely more than a whisper. "This has just been my dream for as long as I can remember, and I can hardly believe I'm actually in an exploration team now. Sure this is our second mission ever, but I'm literally living my dream! I always thought that was an expression. What about you? What have you always wanted to do?"

"...uh-"

"Oh." More silence. "Sorry, I forgot."

He laughed a little bit. Why was he laughing? It wasn't exactly a funny situation. "It's fine. I just don't know, you know? I probably did have dreams, but if I did, I can't remember them anymore. I'll just make new dreams, I guess."

"Make new dreams? Are you sure? Just...start over?"

He shrugged. "I kind of already have started over so sure, why not? The life of an explorer seems like fun, so I guess my dream could be to be a really great explorer or something. Maybe we could chase that dream together."

"Together…" A small smile appeared on her face. "That sounds really nice. Yeah, l like that dream! What do you say we try and make it to Grandmaster rank?"

"Is that the highest?"

"Yeah! Only a handful of Pokémon have ever gotten there, but we can totally try our best! I bet if we really buckle down and do our best, we can make it!"

"It's a deal. Even if we don't make it quite there, I bet we can get one of the really high ranks. What rank was it that Roserade and Cinccino were?"

"Emerald rank; it's also the rank my favorite team ever, Team Moondancers, is! Could you imagine if we were just as good as them? That would be so cool!"

"Team Moondancers?" Gloom asked, hurriedly running up to join Ethan and Fennekin. "Did you know Luxio used to be one of their members?"

"You're kidding!" she exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "She doesn't mention it a ton, but she was in their team before she retired to help Roserade and Cinccino at the Academy."

"Good for us, I guess," Ethan spoke up. "It makes sense why she could take a direct attack from both of us, if she was in a team that's Emerald rank. Who else is in that team?"

"There's Meowstic," Fennekin began explaining, "she's the leader. They say she's really determined, and will find a way to succeed at any exploration they go on. Then there's Lopunny; she's super smart, and has gotten them out of a lot of tough situations before. And finally there's Mawile, and they say she's the nicest Pokémon ever and won't stop until everyone is safe and happy!"

As he was about to respond, Ethan saw Gloom point at something ahead out of the corner of his eye. "There's the entrance. Are you ready? We should probably double check everything and go over the mission details again…"

"There's no time!" Fennekin interjected. "We're hunting a dangerous criminal, we need to move quickly! We checked everything before we left Pokéopolis, and these criminals are really good at getting away when they want to."

What sounded like almost a pained moan came from Gloom. "If you say so…"

Windy Cliffs

1F

Thankfully, the inside of this dungeon was much different than the Dark Cavern; namely, Ethan could actually see well in here. He could even see down the hallways! Well, the one hallway that led out of the small room they were in turned so he couldn't see the next room, but at least it was nowhere near as dark as their other mission had been.

"You can take point," Gloom mumbled as he fell in behind Fennekin. "It'll, uh...help you get better at learning how to take charge in your own missions." He felt bad about taking over others' missions so often, but he supposed it was good training. Even if it sounded like Gloom didn't actually want to lead.

Ethan started leading the group forward, and before he was able to even get into the hallway, a small gray Pokémon came flying around the corner, then saw them and glared as it continued flying. "A Pidove!" Gloom panicked. "Grass types like me are no good against flying types, but you should be, Ethan! Move forward if you need to, but you can always wait and let it come to you so you don't get hurt."

Ethan took a few steps forward, then started accumulating electricity in his body. It took a while for the Pidove to come close to him — better to be too cautious than too reckless — but as soon as it got close to him, he set off a Thundershock as Fennekin used Ember on it. Almost simultaneously both attacks hit true, causing it to turn around and fly away faster than it flew towards them. "You two are so strong!" he heard Gloom beam from behind them. In his heightened concentration, he noticed that Gloom hadn't even moved; Fennekin was next to him, but Gloom seemed to be trying to put Ethan between himself and any Pokémon that could have come down the hallway. He supposed he could understand that, given Gloom was weak to flying types.

Eyes focused on the bend in the hallway to notice any oncoming Pokémon, Ethan cautiously walked into the hallway. After following the hook to the left, eventually the group came to a T intersection. Should he go to the right, or stay on the path they were on? He couldn't see any rooms down either path, so he figured to just keep on walking straight.

The hallway continued and turned left again, leading into a dead end room with another Pidove in it, this time sleeping on the far wall of a small rectangular room. "Couple of items," he whispered to Fennekin. "You go get that elixir, and I'll grab the oran berry?" Her only response was a single nod, and before long, the group found themselves back in the hallway.

As they were reaching the T, a small green Pokémon flapped its way into their section of the hallway, causing him to grind to a halt and put out a hand behind him to stop Fennekin and Gloom. It turned to its left, flying away from them towards the room they entered in. "It didn't see us. What type of Pokémon was that, anyways?"

"It was a Natu," Fennekin responded. "Flying and psychic type."

"Psychic," he thought aloud as he lead the group down the hallway the Natu had come from. "That's not super effective against either of us, right?"

"Right!" Fennekin beamed. "You're learning quickly. Although Gloom is part poison, so it would be super effective against him."

"I'm also a grass type, so flying moves would hurt me a lot too."

"We'll keep you safe," Fennekin responded in a very reassuring voice.

"Electric type moves are good against flying types! I remembered that one for sure. Gloom, what are your types good against?"

"There's the stairs…" Gloom meekly pointed out as they all walked into a small room, stairs in the corner. There was another exit across the room from them, but with the stairs in the corner, Ethan decided to just head to them and start walking up.

Windy Cliffs

2F

"So what are grass and poison type moves good against?" Ethan asked again as Fennekin and Gloom climbed up the stairs after him. "Grass is good against ground, right? I remember Fennekin telling me that since we're both weak to ground types."

"Ground, rock, and water," Gloom rattled off without even thinking on it. "And poison type attacks are good against grass and fairy types."

"I bet you're as strong as Hattrem claims you are, with all of that knowledge!" Fennekin beamed.

Ethan picked up an oran berry by the stairs, putting it inside of their bag before heading towards the room exit. "I've just been at the Academy a while, I'm not that strong. Yamper's stronger than me, you know him. Vibrava's beat me in a battle once or twice, too. And I've heard Dewpider is really tough, even though he's new…"

"Come on," she insisted, "I bet you're really strong! What's the toughest Pokémon you've ever beaten?"

"Well, a Gigalith, but—"

"A Gigalith?" she exclaimed; she jumped in shock, knocking Ethan into the wall of the room and nearly causing him to fall over. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

Some dust and a few stone flakes got onto him, but he brushed himself off a few times. "Yeah, I'm fine. What's so impressive that made you jump up like that, anyways? Is a Gigalith really that strong?"

"They're super strong! I bet you could tell us that, though, Gloom! How did you manage to defeat it?"

"It wasn't just me!" he yelped. "Aipom was with me too. And we had been chasing it all the way to the dungeon so it was tired…"

"We managed to beat Aipom just the other day," Ethan chuckled. "I mean, that sounds mean, but we were just starting out. Besides, I don't think Luxio would have us go along with you if you weren't strong, right? It sounds like we'll need all of our strength against this outlaw. What Pokémon are we going to be fighting, anyways?"

As the group entered a small room with another exit on the left wall. Gloom motioned for Ethan and Fennekin to come close to him. "I'll show you," he said, taking a rolled-up piece of parchment out of his own bag. On it, the image of a spider-like Pokémon took up the majority of the page, with a bounty listed below: 2,000 Poké! Actually, was that a lot? Ethan wasn't sure.

"An Ariados?" Fennekin asked. "Well, that shouldn't be too hard! After all, I'm a fire type, and none of us will be weak to it!"

Gloom seemed to clutch the paper in nervousness. "They say he's really strong, though. And not only is he tough, he has lots of nasty effects he can do to you like holding you in place and poisoning you! Well, I can't be poisoned, but you two can."

"I've never heard of an Ariados," Ethan said as he turned the poster slightly towards himself to get a better look. "It looks like a bug type?"

"Bug and poison," Fennekin confirmed. "None of us are weak to those types, though, so we should be good!"

"But only Fennekin resists either of them," Gloom pointed out. "And both of those types are really good at making a battle really tough, so just make sure to be safe."

Ethan nodded understandingly. "There's also three of us and one of him. I agree we should be cautious, but just stay calm and we'll have a good shot at winning, right? Especially if Fennekin can use her fire-type moves on him."

"Yeah!" she beamed. "I'm sure we'll be fine so long as we're all together, Gloom!"

"I hope so." His voice contained a slight moan as he rolled up the wanted poster and stuck it back in his own bag. "I really don't like bounty missions, they're always really tough and scary. I hope with you two it won't be that hard."

"Just make sure to stick together, and do what we do best. Now come on, we should probably get moving; I don't want Ariados to get away." With that the group all nodded amongst themselves, Gloom more hesitantly than the others, and fell back in towards the room exit.

The hallway was long, Ethan could see that. It went for a good ways down, then turned left and soon came to a fork, one path going left and the other continuing on straight. He decided to go left, and at the end walked into a small dead-end room with a Natu sleeping in the corner and a small pile of gold coins next to one of the walls. "That's Poké!" Fennekin whispered to him. "It doesn't look like there's a lot there, but that's money we can use in Pokéopolis. There should be a small pocket inside the exploration bag that we can use to hold any money that we find."

The coins jangled in Ethan's hands as he scooped them up, a small amount of loose dirt and dust coming along with them. He wasn't quite sure what he could use the money to buy, but it was worth having, he supposed.

Back at the fork, Ethan turned back left and continued along the hallway. A short while later he came to another fork, path branching off the same direction as before, although this time a small gray Pokémon with large ears hopping straight towards them.

"It's a Bunnelby," Fennekin said, peeking her head around the corner. "Normal type."

After a quick nod in recognition, Ethan leapt forward with a Quick Attack, but as he lunged to hit the Bunnelby, saw it move to his peripheral. Shifting his weight ever so slightly, he instead landed on his feet and came to a sudden stop in the dirt. His shins ached from the sudden change in momentum, but there was no time; he jumped back to where he had been, and the Bunnelby closed in on him.

Instinctively, Ethan surged electricity through his body and shot it out. The Bunnelby hopped to the side again, but not before he could see a splash of fire hit it, presumably from Fennekin's Ember. That was something, he supposed, but—

His thoughts were interrupted by two rapid strikes across his face, sending him backwards and nearly knocking Fennekin over. It looked ready to attack again and he needed some time to think, so he used Thunder Wave, squarely hitting it and causing it to almost freeze in place. "What was that?" he asked.

"Doubleslap!" Fennekin yelled before shooting out another Ember; the Bunnelby was barely able to move, but was still able to avoid the ball of fire flying towards it. Soon after, however, a small cloud of leaves flew past him, striking the Bunnelby all over and causing it to fall face-down on the ground.

"It's just fainted, right?" he asked.

"It looks like it'll be fine," she confirmed before turning around to look at Gloom. "Was that Razor Leaf? That was really strong, and it looked like a critical hit!"

Gloom put his hands together, fidgeting. "That Bunnelby was already pretty hurt, I'm sure your Ember would've done the same."

"I'm just glad you managed to knock it out," Ethan said as he carefully stepped over the Bunnelby's body, careful to not hurt it any more than it likely already was. "What was that attack it used on me? It managed to hit me twice before I could even do anything."

Fennekin hopped over the Bunnelby, landing right next to Ethan. "Doubleslap. Some moves you can use really quickly, so you're able to get a couple of hits in before your opponent can do anything. They're not as powerful as some other moves, but they make up for it by letting you attack more."

"I see. And how was it able to dodge all of our attacks?"

"Some Pokémon are just good at avoiding attacks; that's part of adventuring. And part of the fun; you have to be on your toes and know how to get around whatever your foes will throw at you! And just like how they can dodge attacks, you're also able to."

After Gloom stepped over the Bunnelby, looking almost guilty as he did so, they continued down the hallway. It turned right after not too long, eventually leading to another small dead-end room like the previous one, an apple in the corner right next to the stairs. No other Pokémon were in the room, so he picked up the apple and threw it in their bag before climbing up the stairs.

Windy Cliffs

3F

As soon as Ethan got to the next floor, he saw not only the stairs, but two Pokémon on opposite sides of the room; to his left, near the stairs, a blue and black flying Pokémon, and to the right a tan and furry one on four legs.

"A Corvisquire and Lillipup," Fennekin said as she came up behind him. "We can go right to the stairs, or try and fight them. Your choice."

Either way, he decided to go left, towards the stairs and Corvisquire; he was going to end up at the stairs anyways, so may as well go towards them regardless of choice. As they got closer, Gloom fell in next to him, and as soon as they came face to face with the Corvisquire, it lunged towards Gloom and slapped him with one of its wings, sending him back a few inches and to his knees.

"Gloom!" Fennekin cried out, moving behind Ethan. He shot a Thundershock at it, followed quickly by an Ember from Fennekin. Both attacks hit it dead on, causing it to turn and fly away.

"I'm fine!" he responded through gritted teeth, slowly getting to his feet. "To the stairs, before that Lillipup can catch up!"

Windy Cliffs

4F

They exited the stairs into a small room, devoid of other Pokémon. "Are you alright?" Ethan asked as he walked to Gloom, who was still breathing heavily.

"Yeah," he nodded. "That was a Wing Attack, which is super-effective against me since I'm a grass type. This is what I was worried about…"

Ethan rummaged through the bag, finding an oran berry and handing it to Gloom. "We survived it, that's all that counts. Hopefully this berry makes you feel better, take a few moments if you need."

"Really?" he panted as he took a few nibbles of the oran berry. "Thank you. I'm sorry about the fight downstairs, I could've gone down."

"Come on Gloom, you didn't, and that's what's important, right? And you've helped out in fights, plus just with leading us in here. What's there to be sorry for? It could've easily been me being attacked."

A small smile grew on his face. "I guess you're right. It's just that grass types are weak to a lot of different moves, so I feel like I'm letting everyone down whenever I go on missions with them."

Fennekin came up and gently rubbed him on the shoulder. "We've seen a lot of normal types, too; it's not like every Pokémon here is one that you'd be weak to."

"We're here for Ariados," Ethan reminded them. "It doesn't matter if a fight isn't the greatest for us, so long as we can get to him and finish the mission. Right?"

Gloom's smile almost hesitantly grew larger. "Yeah, you're right. I've got your backs! Just so long as you have mine for any flying types…"

"Deal," he laughed before taking a quick look around the room. Three exits: two in front of them, and one to their right. It looked like the two on the same wall turned opposite directions and became hallways of their own, so they had options. He wasn't sure where any of them lead, so he decided on the one to their right.

"Hey, Ethan?" Gloom asked as they were walking down the hallway.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're new to exploring? You just seem really confident, like you already know what you're doing. Luxio and I let you lead this so you could learn, but it doesn't feel like you're a trainee with how you're leading us."

The hallway opened up to a small room, one exit on the left, with a pink berry in the center and a Bunnelby sleeping a few steps away. Silently putting a finger to his lips, Ethan carefully walked to the berry and picked it up; it felt soft, almost as if just holding it could bruise it, and it didn't feel as if anything was inside of it. He'd ask Fennekin or Gloom later what it was; for now, he settled for putting it in his bag and walking to the hallway. After taking a few steps, he looked behind him, seeing the other two following right behind him.

"I just feel like there are decisions that have to be made," he continued once he felt confident their talking wouldn't wake the sleeping Bunnelby. "Sorry, talking about what you said earlier, Gloom. But I just feel like if we don't decide anything, we could be in serious trouble or fail our mission."

The hallway turned to the left. "I guess...but not just that, you seem so comfortable with everything! Battles, that room back there, even when you were telling me it was fine that I got hit really hard. I'm sure some of the other trainees would've yelled at me about that…"

The hallway turned left again, dropping them in a room with an exit on the left and another to their right on the same wall they came out of. "This looks familiar," Fennekin thought aloud. "I think this is the same room we came onto this floor from!"

Ethan shrugged, then turned right. "Guess there's only one way out. But Gloom, would you yell at me if I got hit with a ground type attack and got really hurt?"

Gloom smiled and let out what sounded like a small sigh of relief. "Yeah, you're right. By the way, when we find Ariados, if we have to fight him...do you want me to be up front? Fighting poison types can be really hard if you're not also a poison type."

"That would be really great!" Fennekin exclaimed as they walked into the hallway, before Ethan could even respond. "I've been poisoned before, and it is not fun! With you there, we'll have no problem taking him down!"

"Well, I don't know about that…"

"I'm a fire type, and Ariados is a bug type. And if you can't get poisoned, it'll be really easy! Even if your grass and poison type moves don't do a lot to Ariados, you'll be able to take some of his attacks a lot better than we can."

"You're okay with me not doing a lot of damage to him and letting you two do most of it? I'll do what I can, but both bug and poison types resist grass and poison moves so I'll hardly be doing anything to him…"

"There's more to battling than just doing damage! Let me and Ethan focus on that, since you can avoid his poison you'll be really valuable in making sure he can't take us down with it."

The group entered the next room, a small one with a short, gray Pokémon on the other end walking towards them. Very cautiously, Ethan took a few steps closer to it, then jumped into a Quick Attack once it got close enough. The attack landed head on; using the momentum from the attack, he jumped back and ran to where he had been, Gloom's Razor Leaf flying over his head as he did so. By the time he could look back, the Pokémon was already fleeing, quickie going out of sight.

"That was a Machop," Fennekin said, anticipating Ethan's question. "I don't think we've fought any fighting types before, but it's okay; none of us are weak to them!"

Thankfully there were no other Pokémon in the room, but there was also little else at all. A small hallway led out of the room to their right, but that was all; only one way to go, he supposed.

The hallway was fairly short, and in what seemed like no time they walked into another small room, the stairs in a corner and two Pokémon inside of it; a Bunnelby in the corner near the stairs, and a gray flying one with some red on its face closer to where they were. He wasn't sure what Pokémon it was, but it was flying, which told him that his electric attacks would be a good choice. He lept into a Quick Attack as it was getting close, but with a strong flap of its wings it flew up and over him, dodging before shooting down and attacking him with its beak. It landed on his side, and while it didn't hurt as much as he thought it might have, out of the corner of his eye he saw it grab an oran berry out of his bag and quickly chew before swallowing.

Ethan rolled to the side, using the momentum to spring to his feet quickly and send out a Thundershock; this time, the attack landed true, and with a critical hit as well since the Pokémon fell to the ground. There was no time to waste, so he started walking to the Bunnelby; Fennekin was already next to it, jumping forward and hitting it with a Scratch attack; Gloom was not far behind.

The Bunnelby lunged to hit her with a Doubleslap, but she dodged the first attack; the second, however, it adjusted right near the end to still land a hit on her. Just as Gloom showed up, her ears lit up as she launched an Ember, which was quickly joined by some orange sludge from the flower on top of Gloom's head, causing the Bunnelby to turn and run.

"I think that Pokémon ate one of our berries," Ethan noted. "And what Pokémon even was that? I've never seen any others go for items in our bag."

"Was that a poison attack?" Fennekin asked.

Gloom looked back and forth between the two, unsure of who to answer first. "Well, the Pokémon was a Tranquill, and that looked like Pluck. And that was Acid, Fennekin. It can sometimes lower a Pokémon's defenses, which is why I used it; I figured Fennekin might've needed some help. But I didn't realize how much damage she had already done to it!"

"I think that was you," she laughed. "You're really strong, Gloom! Every time you've helped us, you've managed to do a ton of damage. Now I know why Hattrem was saying you were a good Pokémon to adventure with."

"Th-thanks…" He looked at both of them, then smiled widely. "You two are really nice, I'm glad Luxio had us go on this mission together. I don't know if I could help, but if you two need me in the future, I can try to come and help you. It's the least I can do for some friends."

"I feel the same way! The more we help each other the better we'll all get, right? That's part of why I wanted to join the Academy and not just register as an explorer on my own."

"It would be really nice if I ever have another exploration with a lot of flying types to fight, since those are the ones I seem to get attacked by a lot. But first, we have to take down Ariados!" He took a few steps towards the stairs, then stopped and slowly turned back to Ethan. "Sorry, you're leading this exploration. I'll let you go ahead."

Ethan smiled while shaking his head slightly. "You're fine Gloom, and you're right anyways. We're here to get Ariados, and that's exactly what we're going to do."

Windy Cliffs Summit

"This can't be it," Fennekin said as she followed Ethan up the stairs to a very large, circular room with no hallways leading out from it. "There's nobody here! Do you think the information was wrong?"

Ethan looked around the room; she was right, there was absolutely nothing there. "Maybe there's something we're missing? Like a hidden staircase or something?" He walked to the center of the room, but still nothing caught his eye; it didn't look like any stairs were buried in the walls, and—

Before he even knew it, he was pinned to the ground, and right on top of him was...Gloom? "Are you okay?" Gloom asked.

"What happened?"

"He's on the ceiling!" Fennekin exclaimed.

Gloom got off Ethan, then extended a hand and helped him up. "He tried to use Toxic on you from up there, but I can't get poisoned so I blocked it." As he got to his feet, he looked up and saw a red Pokémon with plenty of yellow and purple legs descending from the ceiling on a strand of spider silk so thin it was practically invisible.

"Three of you?" it asked as it landed on the ground. "Doesn't matter; I've outrun the Society this long, and you'll be no different!"

"We'll see about that!" Fennekin yelled back at him. "We're Team Stargazers, and we're here to arrest you once and for all!"

"Fine, I'll just knock you out then." Ariados' shadow seemed to...shift was the best word, and elongated towards Ethan before rising out of the floor and hitting him head on. What kind of move was that? No time to think or ask; he was too far away to use Quick Attack, so he moved closer on the left while Gloom did the same on the right. Fennekin took a deep breath, the crackling fire of her Ember seeming even larger than normal as it landed right in Ariadios' face. A critical hit! But he shook it off, then looked at Ethan and leapt forward and bit him right on the arm. It didn't even look like he had been hurt by Ember!

Instinctively, he shot a Thundershock at it, causing it to release his arm. Another Ember came from Fennekin, this time hitting Ariados in the side, and a couple of seeds flew out of Gloom's flower and instantly wrapped it in a network of vines. What type of attack was that? They quickly pulsed bright green, and it looked like it was in pain from them. Ariados turned around and tried to bite Gloom, but he managed to jump out of the way.

Less electricity let out from Ethan this time as he used Thunder Wave, but even though Ariados wasn't looking at him, its legs all scuttled to the side as it dodged it. He was quick, even scurrying out of the way of Fennekin's Ember just a split second later!

Suddenly, Ariados seemed to slow down, and fell on the ground. Was it knocked out? There was a fine, light blue powder all over its body; was that some super-effective move Gloom used?

"I used Sleep Powder," he hastily explained as the vines glowed bright green again. "He's asleep, but not for long. Hit him now!"

"Right," he responded with a single nod of his head before charging up another Thundershock. This time he hit Ariados head on, and both Fenneklin's Ember and Gloom's Acid did the same. He went in for another Thundershock, and after it hit, he could see Ariados' eyes crack open ever so slightly. But that was all it took, it seemed, since it planted one of its front legs in the ground and quickly spun around, knocking Ethan and Gloom back and dodging another Ember from Fennekin.

"Fine," it growled, "you beat me. But you can't take me back!" With speed he had never seen before, Ariados ran away from them towards the wall.

"He's getting away!" Fennekin yelled. "Go after him!"

Before he could even start moving, a dark purple arrow zoomed across Ethan's vision, hitting Ariados and causing almost ghostly chains to erupt out of the ground and bind his legs. Ariados struggled, but it was all in vain; whatever that had been, it had stopped him in his tracks. As he looked to where the arrow had come from, he saw a strange Pokémon standing at the entrance to the room; it was tall, and although it looked like a bird Pokémon, it stood on two legs. Its tan wings covered most of its body, and green feathers around its head made it look almost like it was wearing a cloak. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Decidueye," he responded in a deep yet somehow soft voice as he walked up to them. "I was hunting Ariados too; it's a good thing I showed up when I did, otherwise he would've gotten away. I heard he had escaped from numerous Exploration Teams before and figured I should bring him in." As he came up to Fennekin, he stopped and looked at her for a few moments. "What's your name?"

"Fennekin," she barely managed to squeak out, almost backing down from him. "Why?"

"Hmm." He continued walking up to Ariados, but did not stop at either Ethan or Gloom. "It is probably best if we all bring him back to Pokéopolis for justice. He's very quick and crafty; and if I'm not mistaken, you're trainees at the Academy, are you not? I would hate for you to return empty-handed."

"Yeah," Ethan nodded. "I guess it would be nice to have help escorting him back." Decidueye picked Ariados up, and the shackles adjusted themselves to bind his legs together; he could still walk, but with visibly more difficulty than he had previously.

Without a word, Decidueye started walking towards the exit with Ariados. Fennekin ran up to Ethan and Gloom, and the group started following him. "He's kinda weird, isn't he?" she asked.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. He seemed interested in you, and almost a little surprised when you said who you were. Do you know him?"

"No, that's so weird. He didn't even stop to ask your names! I don't know what it is, but something about him's really strange."

"Yeah, I agree. Maybe someone at the Academy will know more about him, he did say he's a bounty hunter after all…"