You ever hear that old saying, ignorance is bliss? Well, to be honest, I never quite got it before as far as I can remember. Well, now as I looked around at the townsfolk as we strolled through Impetus Town, I was getting a pretty good idea of what exactly it meant.

It seemed that the news of our escapades hadn't yet escaped, as the Pokémon around us didn't seem to give us a second thought as we weaved past them on our way to the police station. With the shock of that attack on the temple having apparently passed, they looked lively as ever as they went about their days, should it be talking, playing, shopping, what have you. They had no idea of what we'd started to uncover here... honestly, I envied them. I really did.

Anyways, the police station.

Team Luster had come back early in the morning, Zangoose tied up and in tow as they dragged his snarling, snapping self to the station. Apparently it was standard procedure to hole up any ferals like this in a jail cell until the Guild decided what to do with them, so with a quick summons, we were on our way. As we stopped in front of the humble little police station, we all gave each other a glance.

"So what's the plan here?" Mavy asked Rye. The Treecko was looking worse for wear as several large patches of pale dead skin clung to his body, earning many a bewildered look from the few Pokémon on the street as he scratched at the patch on his chest.

"I don't know. Uh, I-I guess Beck just goes in and sees if he can figure... y'know, something out?" he suggested. Mavy and I both turned to give him a flat look.

"Sham-tin?" I asked dubiously.

"Ya really didn't think this through, didja?" Mavy asked. Rye's eye twitched.

"No, I-I mean like... l-let's just go," he said, leading us into the station. As we walked in, the Magnemite at the front desk took a quick look up, then gave an electronic groan.

"Disdain: You again. Interrogative: What do you need?" it buzzed. It seemed it hadn't forgotten about the time we'd come in with my dream as evidence. Nevertheless, we straightened up and looked it in its single eye.

"We're here for Team... uh, Luster, right? Yeah, Team Luster, their feral 'mon," Mavy said. Magnemite gave us a Look.

"Statement: That is not permitted. Only the affected's teammates may accompany him," it droned.

"Th-they asked for us," Rye hurriedly added.

"Bzzt! Sarcasm: I'm sure they did. I'm sure they'll back that up," the Magnemite said flatly before turning to float through the door behind it. After we waited for a minute, the unpleasant receptionist floated back in and silently gestured us on, giving us a disgruntled sideways look as we ventured into the station's guts.

Waiting in the hallway for us was Team Luster and Officer Magnezone, who all watched as we quietly filed in. Raboot gave a quick sharp look before looking down at the floor, though Nidorino quickly stood up to address us, hanging his head as he started.

"Treecko said you could help. I'm not sure if whatever you're gonna do will work, but... dammit, I don't know. I don't care if you can't bring him back entirely. Just... try and do something," he said. While it was jarring seeing a Pokémon nearly twice my size pleading like this, I managed to ignore this and nodded.

"Y-yessir," I said before turning to Officer Magnezone for instructions.

"Statement: Zangoose is thankfully a feral of the mad variant, meaning he cannot articulate easily in combat. A born feral such as you would likely best anyone in this situation, but remember that the risk is still here. Instruction: Keep in mind I will be watching. I do not know what exactly you will be attempting, but I do not doubt it is dangerous. You are to tell me should the situation spiral out of your control. Interrogative: Are you ready to begin?" he asked.

Looking back at Rye and Mavy for any sort of help, I soon gave the officer a quick nod. With that, Magnezone opened the door behind him and led me inside.

As I took in the jail cell before me, Zangoose looked up at us and immediately began growling threateningly. With his matted fur, bared teeth, and wild, soulless eyes, he was far from the friendly Pokémon I'd known him as. I'd been dreading seeing him like this already, but as Magnezone floated towards the cell to let me in, the realization that I had a lot more shit on my plate to worry about set in. Swallowing hard, I started inching towards the cell, watching Zangoose's wicked claws in particular as he stared me down.

"Zahh!" he barked in warning. I paused, waiting for him to calm down as to not get shish kebabed. As I waited, I began to seriously reconsider this whole idea.

'He's probably too far gone for you to make any difference. Just turn back now and save yourself the mutilation.

...but everyone's expecting you to at least try and do this. Rye, Mavy, Nidorino... agh! This isn't gonna end well.'

Quietly praying Ms. Audino would take pity and not charge us for the care I'd undoubtedly be needing, I kept up my approach as Officer Magnezone opened up the cell door a crack to let me in. As I heard the door clink shut behind me, I stopped and bit my lip, watching Zangoose as he stood up and took a defensive stance.

"Zeaaah!" he snarled. After quickly checking to make sure Magnezone was still there, I tried to mull over the threat in my head.

'Think, Beck. Surely you can get something out of that. Really, that can't be it, all he conveyed was asserting dominance over... his territory... uh, what? Did I really just...?

Um. O-okay, then. We might be onto something. If basic pokkology still checks out nowadays, all I've gotta do is take that dominance away.'

"Zaaagh!" Zangoose screeched, quite unhappy I wasn't backing off as he unsheathed his claws.

"Shaah!" I responded, loudly slapping my tail against the iron bars behind me. Though startled by the noise, Zangoose quickly charged me, though I was able to scramble aside before he could slice me open. The cell's bars rang again as he ran headfirst into them, though this didn't seem to be enough to perturb him as he regained his bearings and swung at me. As claws raked against my chest, I yelped and fired off a Water Gun in the feral's face, the high-pressure technique sending him sputtering to the floor. Before he could get up to strike me again, I gave a hard Aqua Slap to his head, debilitating him just long enough for me to jump onto his head.

"SHAAAH!" I screeched into Zangoose's ear, spittle flying from my mouth as I stamped my webbed feet. Zangoose tried to struggle for a bit, but quickly slumped down in defeat, finally submitting his title of the cell's superior Pokémon.

"Zah..." he groaned as I watched, my ears sticking up.

'Okay, I think that means he's given up. He's acknowledged you as... uh, the alpha, I guess. Now strike him down and assert... whoa, okay, getting a bit into it there.

Really, though, what do I do now? Just talk to him? I mean, I'm not entirely sure what I'm saying myself, but it's my best option here.'

"Er, Shan-gahs. Shaah," I tried. Zangoose only glared up at me, so I bit my lip and tried again. I'm not a hundred percent certain what I told him over the next minute or two, but it seemed I was making progress as the feral's tense figure started to relax. Just as I was about to finish up my spiel of animalistic noise, Zangoose suddenly stood up, throwing me off his head and onto the stone floor.

I winced and braced for a nasty slashing, but was surprised when none came. Tentatively looking up at Zangoose, I found him standing over me passively, staring down at me as he pointed to the door.

"Zah?" he asked quietly. I blinked, the shock of what I'd just managed to do beginning to set in.

"Y-yeah," I said, though quickly coughed to myself. "Er, shaa," I corrected. At my confirmation, Zangoose ambled over to the bars as I hurriedly scurried out of the cell, Magnezone looking on in what I could assume was awe as he held open the door for me.

"...summons: Nidorino, please enter," he soon called. The room's door cracked open as Nidorino hesitantly entered, the others gathered behind him to watch as he stopped in front of Zangoose's cell.

"Sh-Shiloh?" he asked quietly. Zangoose didn't seem to recognize the name, but he still looked down at his former teammate with some sort of respect, maybe even recognition before retracting his claws and bowing his head in submission. Nidorino just stared at him for a moment before turning his gaze towards me.

"Am sorry," I said. I hadn't been able to bring him back after all...

"Don't be. You got somewhere with him, at least. Even if we can't bring him back entirely... all in all, he's still Shiloh. That's good enough," Nidorino reasoned before looking back at the door, where Raboot stared at a loss at this turn of events. "How'd you get Oshawott like this, Treecko? Just... er, give us a tip or two," Nidorino said.

Rye blinked hard at the sudden request, his tail twitching as he tried to think.

"Uh... I-I tried to teach him to say his name first, then tried to branch out. I-it's hard to explain," he said. Nidorino nodded.

"Right, start with names... I think that's everything, then. You can just go, we need a while," he said. "Thanks for... well, everything, you guys."

I gave a quick nod. The three of us stood there for a moment before silently turning to make our exit, leaving Raboot to stare into the room dumbfounded as Nidorino started talking to Zangoose.

We didn't dare say a word till we were well on our way back to the Guild, at which point Rye gave me a worried look.

"So, uh... wh-when you were beating Zangoose up... uh..." he said timidly.

"Yeah. Remind me never to piss ya off," Mavy added. I sighed, giving a little shrug to acknowledge that yeah, I'd probably gotten a bit too into it there as we headed back through the Guild's gates.

I mean, if it worked, then...


Setting down my charcoal pen, I looked over the paper I'd scrawled on, giving a satisfied nod at what I'd produced. With Rye's shedding preventing us from doing any work today, we'd decided to just sit down and have a writing lesson. With a disinterested Mavy having quickly excused himself to go on a walk around town, I didn't have much else to do than write down the same phrase over and over.

The team of Pokémon from the Guild walked into the dungeon.

The team of Pokémon from the Guild walked into the dungeon.

The team of Pokémon from the Guild walked into the dungeon.

Rinse, repeat, and resist the urge to hit my head against the wall. Riveting. I mean, I could somewhat read the phrase now, but still.

Once I handed the paper over, Rye skimmed over it, looking distant as he did so.

"Alright, that's good. Y-you're getting the hang of it," he said absentmindedly, scratching at his peeling skin. He kept at it for a bit before he seemed to notice my concerned look.

"Yeh okeh?" I asked. Not looking up from his contemplation, Rye grimaced a bit.

"I-I... I don't know, it's just that, uh..." he began. Met with just silence after that, I put aside my pen. I'd promised to help him, I wasn't just gonna sit around and write down more first-grade crap without at least trying.

"Wha happehd?" I asked. Seemingly realizing he wasn't getting out of this one, Rye bit his lip.

"Well, uh... it's everything that happened with Zangoose. And, er, wh-while I was in Twistfoot, I could've gone and talked to someone I knew. But... I-I didn't. Like, do you think I should've done that? I didn't even see Mom or Dad, and... I-I ran away, they probably... I don't know. Should I worry about this?" he asked. I thought over his words for a bit. I was by no means a therapist, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

"Eh... is prah-gres," I said.

"What?" Rye asked.

"Nah wahry. T-tak shloah," I added. Rye only seemed to wilt further.

"I-I know, I know. It's just that I should've at least tried to talk to someone, you know?" he asked.

"Rye, is okeh," I reassured him.

"B-but I... uh, do you hear that?" Rye asked. Sticking an ear up, I looked outside, where a loud flapping of wings courtesy of a landing Noctowl sounded.

"Hey, urgent message here," he hurriedly said as he hopped inside, clutching a small slip of parchment. "Immediate summons for Oshawott of Team Reach. The Guildmaster wants to see you."

I froze, staring at Noctowl for a bit before managing to regain my composure and choking a question out.

"Wh-why?" I asked.

"Don't ask me. He just said he wanted to talk with you in private. Not sure how he plans on managing that, but what in distortion do I know?" Noctowl shrugged, dropping the summons at my feet before hopping out the door and flying off. Picking up the little slip and looking over the Torchic-scratch scrawled onto it, I exchanged a worried glance with Rye.

"W-well... I-I guess you should answer that. If Mr. Arcanine wants to see you, then... uh, yeah," the Treecko managed. "I-I'll watch for Mavy, you can just go. I'll... erm, see you later."

Gulping at the tone in his voice, I nodded and waddled out of our quarters, starting the short walk to the top of the hill. Had Arcanine found out about my trip to Bassa Village? Was I about to get kicked out of the Guild or something? I frankly didn't know, but as I approached the little shack housing the Guildmaster's quarters, I figured all I could do was hope for the best. Clutching the summons tight, I stopped in front of the door, where a pair of Bisharps stood guard, apparently having replaced the Magnetons that had been here before.

"None shall pass," one of them said.

"I-" I began.

"None shall pass. Guildmaster Arcanine is not accepting any visitors. Make your leave," the Bisharp repeated. I sighed, holding up my summons. The two guards quickly plucked it out of my paws, looking over it for a minute before nodding.

"Go ahead," they stated, stepping aside to let me head inside.

I felt an odd rush of nostalgia as I climbed down the ladder into Arcanine's quarters with some difficulty. The last time I'd been here was well over a month ago, the day Rye and I formed the team, if I recall correctly. Glancing up at the paintings of the Guild over the years as I headed down the hallway, I gritted my teeth, hoping I'd be shown mercy.

Entering the circular main room, I stopped, finding that Arcanine was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, I started pacing as I waited, taking a long look at the stuff piled up along the walls. Now that I knew of this world's true nature, the artifacts here seemed to shine in a new light. The Pokeballs and machines, the tools and knickknacks, the signs and paintings, the skeleton grinning down at me... I don't know, just looking at the Guildmaster's weird collection now was just kinda morbid, to say the least.

As I examined the artifacts, I stopped over a particularly enticing sight: a long row of rusted knives. I cocked my head as I remembered what Bert had told me during our last session.

'Maybe if we ask real politely, I can get ya one of those to use till the 'chop grows back. Imagine, an Oshawott running at you with a knife.'

I couldn't suppress my smile as I ran a paw across a couple of them. After a good bit of scanning, I carefully picked one of them up. Looking at the little joint at the bottom, I curiously opened up the butterfly knife and examined the rusted blade. It was still decently sharp, it could do some damage...

Giving the knife a couple experimental jerks to open and close it, I soon started swinging the weapon arounf. As the blade whistled through the air for the first time in who knows how long, I let myself momentarily forget my woes. Even if this wasn't my old scalchop, it still felt good swinging such a weapon around like old times. A hefty grin on my face, I gave a few hard stabs into the air, though it seemed I wasn't quite used to the weight of the thing, as the last one sent it flying out of my paws and clattering onto the floor. Gritting my teeth, I bent down to gingerly pick it up.

"Please do be careful. That is very old and very delicate."

"Ah!" I yelped, spinning around to find Arcanine watching me, his face somewhere between amusement and disgruntlement. With a shudder, I picked the butterfly knife up and put it back where I'd found it, then guiltily turned to face Arcanine as he approached.

"Sh-sha?" I asked.

"Yes, I am sure you are wondering why I've called you here," Arcanine said, pulling a small wooden box out of a stack of artifacts. Carrying it over in his mouth, he set it down and continued. "You needn't worry. I only wish for pleasant conversation. First, though, I would like to ask you a question."

As the massive golden dog put a paw on the box, I gulped, fearing the undoubtedly important contents it might hold. Extending a claw and sticking it between the box's two halves, Arcanine opened it up, revealing said contents as... a big checkerboard? And wood pieces for... huh?

Confused, I looked up at Arcanine, who offered a warm smile.

"Would you care for a friendly game of chess?" he asked.

Unsure of where exactly the Guildmaster was going with this, I gave a reluctant nod and sat down across from him. Seeing the five-foot mountain of a canine struggle to pull the small pieces out with his unwieldy paws, I leaned over to try and help out. As I tried to remember whether the Rapidash or the weird smiling guy went next to the castle, Arcanine watched me curiously.

"The bishop goes there, young one," he pointed out before lying down on the floor. "I have not played in many years, so do bear with me here. Now, white goes first, if I recall," he said, delicately pushing a pawn forwards with a claw.

"Uh... sir? Wha?" I asked. The Guildmaster looked up, his deep eyes regarding me as I instinctively straightened up.

"I am told you have been through much over the past moon. From experience, I can tell you that playing a game with no life on the line always helps," he explained, nodding towards me. "Your move."

After a bit of hesitation, I gave a light shrug and moved a pawn forward, getting another grin from Arcanine.

"Chess, you see, is a human game, both literally and in nature. There seems to be too much hard contemplation towards a hollow goal for many Pokémon to show interest. I have come close to convincing some, but I suppose the core of the game is simply too far gone to make very much sense to most. I myself have difficulty understanding, I must admit. Kings, queens, bishops; roles I suppose only a human could fully understand."

Nodding at his little lesson, I started trying to ask what the smiley guy did again before suddenly freezing in place, looking up at Arcanine like he'd just caught me with a paw in the cookie jar.

"Curious that you accepted my challenge so easily, I must say," he said knowingly. I swallowed hard.

"Uh..." I said.

"Yes, I am aware of your... condition. Rest assured, your secret is safe with me, young Beck," Arcanine reassured me. "Now, then, did you mean to move there?"

"S-sir-" I began.

"Need not worry. We will get to that, but since we cannot talk without much effort, I would like to get to know you on the checkerboard before we do. You can tell much about a Pokémon just through how they play," Arcanine said. I hesitated for a bit before biting my lip and going along with the game, gesturing to the smiley-guy to begin properly.

So, I'll admit. I kinda suck at chess. Even if I got the feeling Arcanine was going easy on me, he had wiped the floor with most of my little guys within fifteen minutes or so. While the game was honestly kinda fun in a way, that was eclipsed by the mild panic I felt looking over the trap the Guildmaster had put my king in as he accidentally knocked over another piece of his with his massive paw.

"Oh, dear, not again... I apologize again, it seems this was not quite designed with my stature in mind," he chuckled, eyeing my king as he tried to prop his castle guy back up. "Ahem, check. You may prolong this for a few turns if you please. There is no shame in moving your king away," he said, gesturing to my poor king as the white queen just stood there menacingly. Gritting my teeth, I looked around for some sort of escape from this.

'Crap, he killed my smiley-guys. They'd have been useful here. Uh... oh, wait!'

Cracking a confident grin, I picked up a lonely, unassuming Rapidash from amidst the chaos in the board's center and knocked Arcanine's queen over. The dog stared at his downed champion for a second before nodding to himself.

"Interesting. Interesting, indeed," he said as I picked the piece up and put it aside. Looking back at him to watch his next move, I found him sitting up instead. "See, this is what fascinates me so about humankind: its ingenuity. You simply cannot get this from peering over old artifacts all day, it is wondrous to experience it firsthand," he mused before nonchalantly looking back down and grabbing his remaining castle guy in his mouth, putting it just across from my king. I frantically reached out to move it out of the way, but quickly found that wouldn't be an option, no thanks to the smiley-guys prowling at the board's other end.

"Alas, it seems that has not quite carried over for you. Checkmate," Arcanine said. We were both silent for a moment before the golden dog hung his head a bit. "I apologize. Comedy was never my strong spot."

Giving the Guildmaster a sideways Look, I sighed and started cleaning up the mess. As I did so, Arcanine sat up, his expression becoming more serious.

"Now, then, with that out of the way, I would like to talk to you about your... ahem, recent incursion," he said. I gritted my teeth, quietly swearing to myself as he continued. "I have read the first reports from the Societies and Bassa Village, and... I want you to tell me what happened. I need a firsthand account to decide what action to take next. Can you do that, young one?"

"Uh... sha," I reminded him. Arcanine simply chuckled to himself, got up, and headed over to what I guessed was his living space in the other room. Nudging back a piece of parchment and a charcoal pen, he watched me expectantly.

"Er... c-cannah wreh," I said.

"Not in Graytongue, I know," Arcanine said. I stared at the paper confused for a minute before suddenly perking up, grabbing the pen, and scrawling out something.

Can you read this?

Peering down at the Unovan, Arcanine grinned.

"Why, yes, I can. I have had a while to practice, I can read most western languages fluently, and my Kantonese is choppy but passable. It is a shame my biology does not allow for speaking them, though," he said. "Now, might I ask why you went to Bassa?"

Looking up to meet his curious gaze, I sighed and started scouring my mind for words as I wrote.

Got attacked. Guy gave info then escaped. Wanted answers.

"I see. Did anything of note happen between your arrival and the raid?" Arcanine asked. I hesitated, remembering the vision I'd seen. I'd talked to the Guildmaster about this before, though, so I felt like I could trust him with that sort of thing.

Dream. They were looking for orb. Didn't find.

Arcanine's brow furrowed as he read over this.

"Orb... I presume this was the Lustrous Orb that Officer Feraligatr mentioned. Worrisome, I must say," he said.

"Wha?" I asked, though Arcanine continued without explaining.

"Might you describe what you saw in the raid?" he requested. Giving a light groan of frustration, I complied.

Found guys. Bird was there with a bunch of others. Gave a monologue and collapsed the floor.

"Bird? What- ah, Xatu. I see... I am told you and Feraligatr found a previously unknown structure under the floor. Might you describe it?" Arcanine requested.

"Uh... y-yeah," I said, looking back down at the paper.

Really long dark concrete tunnel.

Arcanine looked down at the floor, contemplating my vague description.

"Interesting, indeed," he said. "A subway tunnel, perhaps, or some sort of shelter. And undiscovered in such an environment as the Imperium Desert..."

The dog gazed down thoughtfully for a moment before nodding.

"I suppose this calls for an exploration, then," he said.

"Wha?" I asked.

"The idea is that I will send a select few teams to the site to scout out the area and bring back anything of interest," Arcanine explained.

"Why?" I questioned.

"Well, you see, desert environments are ideal places for preserving artifacts. In these troubled times, anything of use could help turn the tides. Imagine, young one. We could find where the Caverns of Being are, or Entralink, perhaps. Why, there is always the chance Reshiram and Zekrom themselves could be resting there! It is too good of an opportunity to pass up," Arcanine explained. I considered the prospect before giving a little nod of understanding, getting a satisfied smile from the Guildmaster, though this quickly faltered.

"That reminds me. I am curious: once this is over and you have completed whatever task you were ordained with, what do you plan on doing next?" he asked. I cocked my head in confusion.

"Er..." I began before remembering the parchment below.

Keep the team going, I guess, I jotted down. Arcanine hummed to himself.

"You... do not wish to return home? You wish to remain an Oshawott? Do you not have friends and family waiting?" he asked. I hesitated for a moment before replying.

Is going back even possible?

"Well, perhaps with favor with a Legend such as Dialga or the Entree forest if the legends are true. That is all I know of on this continent," Arcanine said.

I stared into space for a bit to let this information sink in. I could go back? I could see whoever I'd left behind again? Maybe... but... my human self died. I knew that much for certain. I wasn't sure if I could just walk in and say hi after literally dying. Besides, I couldn't just leave Rye like that, he'd be absolutely crushed.

'I... I don't want to think about this just yet. I'm just gonna move on real quick.'

Hiding my discomfort at the hard-hitting revelation, I hurriedly jotted down another question for Arcanine.

Have you met any other humans?

Arcanine considered this for a moment before shaking his head.

"Yes. No. It... it is complicated. I believe I spoke to Lee's partner before the Darkness receded from the Dark Isles, but I have not met any human-turned Pokémon. There are some... shall I say interesting Pokémon that have raised some alarms over the years, but that is unimportant," he said. "I did, however, meet a few humans when they still occupied these lands."

"Wha? Watta feck?" I asked under my breath, though quickly shrunk back as Arcanine gave me a steely look for my language. "...er, r-rehly?"

"Yes, quite long ago. Most tried to catch me for my Shine, but there was one who... stood out, shall I say. I would prefer not to talk about that day," Arcanine mused.

I stared at him for a moment, shocked at just how old he apparently was. He remembered actual humans? Just... damn.

You're that old? Is that why you like humans so much?

"Oh, no, no. There are many far older than I, some who remember the glory days of man as if they were yesterday. I suppose I am just the one who could not let go," Arcanine chuckled. "No, I look up to your race because of what they have done for this world. Without their guidance, we would all be savage beasts like the ferals you are bunched with. Even in their absence, what humanity did still holds firm. Everything you see around you, from this town to the very concept of writing, is from what they taught us. If we have gone further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

I smirked a bit at the quote as he continued.

"You should not be ashamed to be human, child. This Guild will support you in your team's quest," he reassured me. "Should you begin to think of returning home, however... by all means, come talk to me. I will be right here."

"Y-yessir," I said. Arcanine gave a smile.

"Thank you for your time, young Beck. You are dismissed, I must begin arranging the exploration. Forever forward," he said.

"Uh... f-fah... fehvvah..." I tried.

"I will take that," Arcanine nodded, turning to retreat back into his living room. With that, I turned to leave, not entirely sure what to make of the visit. While I'd been reassured that the Guild had my back, the possibility of dropping everything and going back once all this was over had been presented. For the time being, I'd soundly reject that proposal, but it was still at least worth noting.

As I waddled back towards our base, my mind couldn't help but wander towards all this, still contemplating as I sat down on my straw bed. I only really snapped out of it once I noticed Rye sitting there and watching concernedly.

"Uh, wh-what happened? How'd it go?" he asked, to which I simply shrugged. Honestly, I didn't really have anything else to give.

All I knew for certain was that the next few days were going to be interesting, to say the least.


Clanga-clanga-clang!

As the telltale ringing of the wakeup bell jolted me awake, I let out a light moan. I stared at the ceiling for a minute until I heard Rye get to his feet, at which point I sighed and sat up, blinking fog out of my eyes. Across from me, Rye scratched at the last remaining patches of dead skin on his body as Mavy got to his paws, messily shaking straw out of his fur. With our usual waking routines out of the way, we all exchanged glances.

"Morning," Rye said groggily.

"Ugh," Mavy groaned.

"Sheaugh," I agreed. Pleasantries given, we all headed outside and made our ways towards the mess hall for breakfast, passing by the wakeup team of Bronzong and Farfetch'd. As we passed by the boards, we noticed the steady flow of Pokémon disrupting as they seemed to suddenly stop, murmur something among each other, and head down the path towards the amphitheater.

"Uh... d-do you think that's...?" Rye asked, glancing over to me. It'd been a couple days since I'd visited Arcanine, and my checking the outlaw board every chance I got had caught the attention of both Rye and Mavy. With what I'd told them back at Tropius' restaurant, Rye had every right to be nervous as he ran over to a nearby Espurr.

"H-hey! Sir!" he called. The Espurr gave him a flat look.

"I'm a girl," she said. Rye stopped briefly, swearing to himself before continuing.

"S-sorry. Uh, what's going on?" he asked. The Espurr unnervingly stared into him for a couple seconds.

"Emergency assembly. That's all I know," she said before hurrying off to join a waiting Fennekin down the path. We hesitated for a bit, though with a worried look and a gesture to follow, Rye led us towards the Guild's amphitheater.

The three of us waited among the sea of nervously chattering Pokémon for a minute, looking around anxiously until a clamor arose around us, signifying Arcanine's arrival. Flanked by two Bisharp, he took his usual spot and regarded us all, his face still as he waited for his apprentices to calm down. Once some degree of silence had been reached, he cleared his throat.

"Thank you all for attending. I apologize for calling you here on such short notice, but this is in regards to an ongoing crisis that I suspect may be of great consequence," he began. "Firstly, I must commend our very own Team Reach for collecting much of what I am about to tell you. Three days ago, the group responsible for the attack on the Dialgite Temple attempted another theft. While they were unable to retrieve the object in question, said object is still worrisome enough to warrant this announcement."

Arcanine paused for effect, taking a deep sigh.

"It seems they were attempting to steal the Lustrous Orb. Our friends in Ebbull City have confirmed that this is not random chance, as the artifact taken from the Dialgite Temple was, in fact, the Adamant Orb. We do not know what this entails, but what matters now is that they were unsuccessful in this attempt," he said. "The organization in question is known as the Phoenix League. The whereabouts of the thief Xatu and the League's current leader, known only as the Director, are unknown at this moment, but I still ask that you keep a lookout. Known members of the League are now on the outlaw board for anyone who wishes to help. That is all I wish to say. Forever forward."

As Arcanine turned to walk away, the crowd began to murmur among itself, confused.

"Phoenixes? He doesn't mean that Phoenix League, does he?"

"They... what?"

"The fuck is an Adamant Orb?"

"Hey, hey, sorry. Just let me past here."

The source of that last voice made itself clear as it clumsily climbed up onto the Guildmaster's stone podium, turning to look over the crowd. Making sure he wasn't about to fall off, Arden cleared his throat loudly to get the congregation's attention.

"Right. So, seeing as the dog didn't explain jack about those orb things, I'm just gonna do it for him. Basically, back when the world was created, we had Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. For whatever reason, once they were finished doing their thing, the three stooges of spacetime decided to stick some of their power into weird orbs, and the end result was the... fuck, I forget. Uh, the Adamant, Lustrous, and Grizzly Orbs," he explained before May's head stuck out of the crowd to whisper to him. "...what? Griseous? The fuck kind of word is... you know what, fuck it. Point is, the things are powerful, and if they happen to get all three of them, we may or may not be fucked."

The quiet crowd exchanged worried glances for a bit until a paw raised.

"How do you know so much about this?" its voice asked. Arden rolled his eyes.

"Be glad your old man didn't sit you down and drill you on this kinda shit fifty times over," he said. "So, that's really about it. Just... I don't know, go about your lives, citizens."

As the Pokémon around us began to clamor worriedly once more, Arden shot a suspicious glance in our direction before hopping off the podium and out of sight. Biting my lip, I followed Rye and Mavy out of the amphitheater, hoping some breakfast would help all that set in.

As we walked, I couldn't help but notice several more eyes than usual fixed on us, their owners whispering to each other as they walked past. As I quickly noted, their gazes seemed to be more of intrigue than suspicion, a welcome change from the usual as we headed into the mess hall.

"Ah, Team Reach! I... am honestly not sure what to tell you," Raticate said as we waited for our food. "Uh, I dunno, good job out there, I reckon. Keep it up, buckos."

"Thanks," I said, accepting the three trays and heading on over to our usual spot. Upon taking our seats, the three of us sat there in a long, awkward silence.

"...so. We ain't just dealin' with Dialga here, I gather?" Mavy eventually asked. Rye shuddered, giving an "mhm" as the Zigzagoon tapped his claws on the table.

"Aight, so apocalypse orbs, the weird cult mob... y'know, this'd be a real nice time to clue me in on ev'rything, y'know?" he suggested. After Rye only sighed, he raised his forepaws. "I kid, I kid."

After another minute of silence, I cleared my throat.

"So, er... fehd?" I suggested. Rye and Mavy quickly agreed, so we took to stuffing our faceholes. I had no way of knowing what was coming up, but I figured all I could do now was just get ready for whatever Arcanine had in store for us.


"Come on, that was a nice, informative speech. The Grizzly Orb thing wasn't that egregious," May reassured her friend.

"It's not that. Come on, can I not be stressed about... you know, that?" Arden groaned. Giving a simple sigh in response, May turned to talk to Pike, finally leaving the Quilava alone with some time to think.

Peering above the heads in the mess hall to look at Team Reach, Arden bit his lip. He'd been dreading this announcement for days now, no thanks to the vision he'd been hit with the night of the attack. Now that his superior had confirmed his fears, he was at a loss of what to do.

He felt he had understated just how fucked they all were if all three of the Orbs fell into the wrong hands. How, exactly? The last thing he wanted was to find out. But... what if Team Apex failed to stop this from happening? No, what if Team Reach failed?

'Alright, Arden. Buddy. All you gotta do is walk up to the Oshawott, stand up real straight, and tell him that you... you're... fucking damn it!'

Sparks escaping from the vents on his back, Arden let out a shaky sigh as he turned back to his teammates. Even if his conscience whispered to just give Oshawott and friends a chance, he still feared their failure. But he couldn't do a thing about it... he couldn't do this for much longer.

He wanted this all to end. He wanted things to go back to normal. He didn't want to hide behind the wall anymore.

At that moment, Arden almost wanted to go home.